Sons of Sparda VII: Time of Your Life
by The Night Lord
Summary: Set post-RoA. Dante receives a vision from his future self and sets about trying to prevent the rise of a powerful demon who was able to destroy the world in the future. And this time, Dante has a chance to set things right. Please R
1. Back Through Time

**Okay, so new Sons of Sparda fic. Who'da think it? Not me, until recently. Now, I always wanted to do a seventh Sons of Sparda story (given how, imo, _Legacy of Dante _was kinda lame), however, the main characters were getting old (into their fifties at least) and their children were all in their early twenties-late teens. Too many good guys at once. So, I decided to set this earlier in the series, but with a plot idea I had gotten from the upcoming Mortal Kombat game. I know, I'm stealing its idea, but damn, it's a good idea and I'm trying to make it work in this. So yes, it does mean that the series is getting altered, but I hope not too badly. And I also hope you enjoy this**

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Blood coated the gritty floor, seeping through the cracks that had been created from the ritual. Against the wall near the shattered wooden door, the beaten and bloodied body of Celeste lay, lacerations covering her body, her clothes shredded and her blood staining her long white hair. Her weapons were lying nearby, out of reach, but that didn't matter anymore. Celeste was dead.

Nearby, her twin brother, Nero, was lying facedown on the ground, also in a similar state to his sister, the glow of his Devil Bringer having long faded, his demonic fingers resting on the hilt of the White Queen, the Blue Rose by his side, as blood pooled beneath his body, staining his clothes and hair.

Lady was lying on her back, cuts deep within her body, blood seeping from her mouth and nose, her trademark rocket launcher, Kalina Ann, lying beside her, while the harpoon had been detached and rammed into her chest. Her daughter, Lili, was lying nearby, facedown in a pool of blood, her katana, Yitoma, sticking out of her back at a twisted angle. Her father, the Dark Slayer Vergil, was slumped against a cracked column, his infamous sword, Yamato, resting in his right hand, the blade snapped in half, while the Hellebore sword had been impaled through his chest, but the flames had died on the sword, leaving it a stone black colour.

Lucia was lying on her back, blood pooled beneath her and her cutlaseers stabbed through her body, eerily mirroring the same way in which she had died before some thirty years earlier. Not even her powers over death, increased over time and with a great deal of practice, had been effective in this battle.

The twins Tristan and Jenny were slumped over one other, the younger of the twins' head resting on her brother's lap. The image would have looked like a moment of sibling bonding, if it wasn't for the blood coating their bodies, their weapons lying broken nearby. Their mother, the demoness Trish, was nearby her children and like the others, she was lying in a pool of her own blood, dead to the world in a literal manner. Even Nero's wife, Kyrie was there, along with their children, all dead and surrounded by their own blood, along with the half-demon James Knight, his sword stabbed through his abdomen in a twisted manner.

Only Dante was the last one standing, but not for long, his body bleeding and broken, trying desperately to repair the damage done, but his body had taken on too much and he was struggling to stay standing on his feet, the Sparda sword, a relic of his father's legacy, hanging loosely in his hand as he faced the two demons responsible for raining down destruction on his family and the world.

"Dante, you look so worn out," the smaller of the two grinned, "Maybe you lie down, take a nap. An eternal one preferably. Just like the rest of your family."

"Screw…you," Dante bit out venomously, blood spitting from his mouth.

The demon smirked in an amused way. His name was Asmodeus and though his size didn't look very threateningly, he still wielded a ton of power. Humanoid, with spiked white hair and amused white-blue eyes, he was dressed in a glossy black armour, with spikes rising up from the shoulder plates and a blade on both greaves. A long black cape with a red inside flowed from his shoulders, hanging around his ankles, as he looked upon the demon hunter with a smirk, a large black zweihander resting on its tip in his hand, blood running down the blade from the battle.

Asmodeus had come out of nowhere, surprising Dante and his family. After unleashing a horde of demons upon the world, Asmodeus then summoned the demon, Abbadon and breached the seals between the human and demon realms with the demon's sheer power. After this, Asmodeus took over Mundus' throne and his awesome power was sent skyrocketing as a result. Dante and the others entered the demon realm, intent of finishing of Asmodeus, but up against the nine-foot-tall, hulking Abbadon, who's body was composed of rock and coated in flames, they were all demolished, aided by Asmodeus, who took great glee in killing off each family member one by one, leaving Dante for last, forcing the demon hunter to watch painfully as his family was slaughtered before his very eyes.

Dante couldn't believe that this was end. He believed that they would win, that Asmodues couldn't be as powerful as Mephistopheles. But that underestimation was what had resulted in their deaths. He had faced death once before, but now this time, it would be permanent. Try as he might, he knew he didn't stand a single chance. His body was too broken from the fight and it wouldn't be long before he was killed. At that moment, Dante wanted to welcome it, wanting to be with his family again. But then that would mean Asmodeus and Abbadon would be able to take over the human world, rampaging through and destroying what Dante had fought for so long to protect. If it ended here with him, then everything ended. It would be all over and all for nothing.

No, not for nothing.

Dante had suddenly come up with an idea, but he knew it was very risky, not to mention the sheer impossibility of it. He also knew he had to perform it quickly, otherwise, if Asmodeus caught on to what he was doing, then it would all be in vain.

"So, how should we kill you?" Asmodeus grinned sadistically, "Slowly or quickly?"

"Just do it quickly and be done with it," Dante said, "I've had enough."

Gathering whatever little energy he had left, Dante began discreetly channelling it towards his right hand. He only had one chance, one shot and he knew he had to make this count. Otherwise, the world was definitely doomed.

"I think I prefer to kill you slowly," Asmodeus said, advancing on Dante, "But then again, you're too badly injured to have any more fun with."

Dante chuckled darkly, "Heh, too bad, huh?"

He had gathered all the energy he needed and briefly wondered for a moment if was enough, but had to cast that thought from his mind, knowing that everything, all of existence, depended on this attempt to save the world.

Asmodeus raised his hand for the killing blow and Dante knew he had to quicken his pace. Searching deep within himself, Dante touched upon the powers of the Quicksilver he had gained when he was a teenager, as white energy started gathering around Asmodeus' hand. Dante knew he had to time this just right and so he waited, as the energy formed into a small ball on Asmodeus' palm.

"Say goodbye, Dante."

Dante channelled all his energy, all of his lifeforce, all of his time powers into Sparda, as the blade began glowing a silvery blue. Asmodeus noticed this, but shrugged, not caring too much about it, knowing that his energy blast would be more than enough to finish Dante off once and for all. Grinning, Asmodeus prepared to fire the blast, when Dante suddenly lunged at him, swinging Sparda. Asmodeus was surprised by this, but held his ground anyway, knowing that Dante's attack was futile and simply waited until the last possible moment. Dante brought the energy-charged Sparda down towards Asmodeus. The demon waited until Sparda was nearly touching his face, then unleased his energy blast upon the demon hunter as point-blank.

A massive explosion rang out, destroying the room and throwing the bodies around, as Dante's body collapsed to the ground, Sparda falling beside him in two halves, as Asmodeus staggered back with a groan, a single bloodied mark finally appeared on his left cheek. He growled, looking over at Dante in anger. The defeated demon hunter simply chuckled, his head falling back against the cold stone floor, the life leaving his body, as the twinkle in his eyes faded away.

Dante, the legendary demon hunter, was now dead.

**_†††††††††††_**

_2010__._

Dante sighed as he heard Vergil and Nero arguing in the nearby room. He didn't know what they were arguing about, but he knew it would be about something pointless and knew that it was probably Nero who instigated the argument. Finally fed up with it, he sighed in frustration and slapped his car magazine down on the desk, before heading over to the doorway, seeing his brothers in the middle of the room.

"So, you two ladies gonna kiss and make up any time soon or what?" Dante asked, "Cause the twins are sleeping and I prefer it if they stay that way."

"He started it," Vergil said, folding his arms in annoyance.

His twin simply cocked an eyebrow.

"And here I thought you were the mature one."

Vergil shot him a venomous glare. Dante held up his hands in mock surrender, before turning towards the youngest of the brothers.

"Well, do I even want to know what this is all about?"

Nero opened his mouth to reply, when Dante suddenly seized up, grasping at his head as he fell to his knees, his body shaking in pain. Vergil and Nero were instantly by his side, wondering what was going on with their brother.

"Dante? Dante, are you alright?" Vergil asked, "What's going on?"

Dante finally stopped shaking and slowly lowered his hands, before pushing himself off the floor, staggering back and leaning against the wall, while breathing heavily as he had just run a three-country marathon. But his eyes were wide in shock and horror, something Vergil knew that wasn't characteristic of his twin.

"Dante, what is it?" Nero asked, "What happened?"

"We're all going to die," Dante finally replied.

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**Well, what do you think? Good, bad, meh otherwise?**


	2. Learning of the Future

**So, who's seen the trailer for the latest DMC game? Well, a reboot to the series called DmC with Dante now looking like a teenaged emo junkie. With mostly dark hair and a small patch of silver hair, who also smokes and is in a mental institution. What happened to the Dante we all know and love? The white hair? The cocky, wisecracking and bad-ass personality? They've lost the essence and feel of the character. And why reboot it? There were still questions that needed answering, especially Nero's blood connection to Sparda. Okay, gonna calm down now and think how we still have Marvel vs Capcom 3 to look forward to. Dante and Trish together again. Yeah baby!**

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"What do you mean 'we're going to die'?" Vergil demanded.

He was leaning against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. Dante was sitting at his desk, feet up like normal, while Nero was sitting on a chair nearby, scratching his head in confusion over what he had just been told.

"Exactly what I mean, Vergil," Dante replied, "I got a vision. Of the future in which we all get killed by these two demons."

"That's just preposterous. How could it even be true? It's probably some mind trick a demon is playing on you?"

"A trick in which all of us, including our wives and children, are all killed one by one before our very eyes? And you can't pass it off as some mind trick. Since when getting a vision of your family dying is called a mind trick?"

"I still think it's preposterous. Not to mention impossible. How exactly can you send your entire memories back through time thirty years from now?"

"Quicksilver," Dante said, "I'm able to slow down time. Why not use it to tap into the timeline and sent my memories back through time to save the future."

"Sounds like this game that I know that's coming out soon," Nero piped up, "But while I'm sceptical, I also want to see if its true or not."

"I'd like to think it is true and if it is, then we have a chance to stop it from happening," Dante said, "Not just us dying, but a ton of things."

"Really?" Vergil asked, his interest slightly peaked, "Like what?"

"In six months time, Jester is going to return from the grave and kidnap my son, taking him to an alternate reality and raise him to be evil. And eighteen years after that, Jester's gonna break your back in a fight."

"Okay, now I know this vision is a fake," Vergil scoffed, "There is no way Jester could beat me in a fight. Apart from that one time, but I had wasted my energy fighting you."

Dante shrugged, "Suit yourself, bro. But also, Beelzebub and Balthazar will come back to life, along with a few other people who we've killed, like Abigail and Gloria."

"Dante, you sure this is a vision and not something after you hit your head following too many drinks?" Nero asked.

"No, this is real. Guys, I'm being serious here for once. We were killed. All of us. None of us were powerful enough to stop this and-"

"If we weren't powerful enough in the future to stop this Asmodeus," Vergil said, "Then what made the future you think we could? We're not as strong as our future counterparts and this is from thirty years later."

"Because Asmodeus' arrival caught them all off guard," Dante replied, "None of them had been expecting it. Right now, we have a chance to stop it from happening."

"But like you said, his arrival caught them…us…them off guard," Nero said, "Sounds like nobody knew about him. So how are we going to find him?"

"Well, we do have thirty years."

At that moment, the front door of Devil May Cry swung open, as Trish, Kyrie and a two-month-pregnant Lady came walking into the store, all talking and giggling amongst themselves, stopping at the sight of their sombre-looking spouses.

"Okay, what happened?" Trish asked, dropping her bags, "The twins okay?"

"Yeah, they're fine. They're sleeping right now," Dante said.

Lady put her bags down and headed over to Vergil, as he pulled her close to him, her face nuzzling into his neck, as he kissed her forehead.

"What's in the bags?" he asked.

"Baby clothes and other supplies," she replied with a smile.

"So, what's with the sad looks?" Trish asked, "You look like you had your video games confiscated off you."

"Well, Trish honey, there's something you should know," Dante replied, "And it's not exactly good news. In fact, it's far from it. You should sit down."

"Yeah, I guess I should, judging from how serious you are."

Dante let out a sigh, before starting, "We were just reminiscing about the pet dog we had when we were kids and how much we loved that dog. And how upset and traumatised we were when it was killed by a car."

Trish cocked an eyebrow, "You serious? That's the bad news?"

"Well, it is very upsetting," Dante said, "I loved that dog."

"For a second there, dear, you had me worried. You just looked so sad."

Trish got up from the chair and headed upstairs with Lady and Kyrie to sort out their shopping, as Vergil glared his twin a glare, who was ignoring him.

"Why didn't you tell her?"

Dante shrugged, "Don't want to worry her about it. She's got enough on her plate dealing with the twins. The last thing she needs is this news."

"So I'm guessing we're dealing with this on our own?" Nero asked.

"Sure are. Hopefully, we can sort this out, save the future and be back in time for dinner. Without Trish knowing."

Vergil snorted, "You know how well that never turns out."

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Dante stepped into the seedy demon's bar, as the din instantly died down and the demons hid behind their beer mugs, fearful of invoking the demon hunter's bullets in their bodies. No-one dared to cross his path, as he made his way towards the bar.

"D-Dante, er, h-hey, w-what brings you h-here?" stuttered the bartender.

"I'm looking for some information," Dante replied, "More specifically, a demon."

"Yeah? W-what kind of demon?"

"The name is Asmodeus. Ancient demon."

"Nope, sorry, don't know the name. Never heard of him."

Dante sighed, "Well, think you can point me in the direction of someone who has?"

The bartender's eyes flicked from Dante's face to over his shoulder and Dante rolled his eyes, looking briefly over his shoulder as an Envy demon came creeping up, carrying a large scythe. The demon swung the scythe at Dante's back, only for the hybrid to whirl around and catch the handle in his hand.

"Isn't it rude to shoot a man in the back while he's having a drink?" Dante asked.

"Gonna kill you for what you've done to my brethren," the demon snarled, green gunk flying from its mouth as it spoke.

"Sorry, but not today. From what I've been told recently, I'm going to live a long, healthy life."

With a powerful kick, Dante sent the demon flying back against the far wall, crashing down onto a table of patrons, spilling their glasses all over the place. Within seconds, demons started rising up from their tables, all with murderous looks in their eyes, some of them summoning their weapons out of thin air. While none of the demons had been willing to take on Dante alone earlier, now, they were all standing together, ready to tear the demon hunter apart for wrecking their afternoon drinking session.

"All at once, huh boys? I don't blame you. Who could resist having a go at this deliciously sexy body?"

An Abyss swung its magical scythe at Dante's head, but he dodged the blade, spinning around the demon and kicking it in the back. The Abyss crashed into the bar, as Dante arced backwards to avoid the blade of a Sin Scythe. Rising back up, Dante whipped out Ivory and shot the demon in the face. It howled as it faded away, while a Bianco Angelo went rocketing towards Dante. He grinned and jumped over the demonic knight, using Ivory's barrel to block an Alto Angelo's sword. Drawing Ebony, Dante shot the sword aside, before leaping back to avoid a leaping Lust demon, while blasting the Alto Angelo's armour with bullets. Landing behind the bar, Dante stabbed Rebellion into the wooden top, then kicked the sword along the bar, shattering the glasses, while shooting at the demons as they lunged for him.

Reaching the opposite end of the bar, Dante caught Rebellion and leapt over the bar at a Pride demon. It swung its scythe to counter the blow, as the Bianco Angelo shot towards Dante again. He did a Skystar to his left, then performed an Air Trick to appear behind the Bianco, doing another Skystar that was swiftly followed by a mid-air Stinger. The Bianco crashed into the floor, as Dante landed on a Hell Vanguard's shoulders and kicked off, sending the demon flying into a small group of Sloth demons. Landing on the floor, Dante rested Rebellion on his shoulders and looked around at the entire bar, watching as the demons picked themselves up.

"Let's party," Dante grinned.

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Groaning, Asmodeus opened his eyes, blinking at the setting sun over the horizon. Frowning, he shakily rose to his feet, staring at the sun as it set over the trees and he looked around, trying to figure where he was. Taking a few steps away from the trees, he found himself sending in a park, with a large statue of a sword-wielding man riding a horse. There was a plaque beneath the statue, but Asmodeus wasn't interested.

"What? What happened? Where am I?"

The last thing he remembered was that not long after Dante's death, an invisible force had gripped Asmodeus and began pulling him towards Dante's body, before everything went white. But there was worse. Whatever had happened to him had drained him of most of his power. Wherever he was now and however he got here, he had lost over half of his original power.

"NOOOOOoooooooo!"

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	3. Where You're Wrong

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Dante arrived back at the shop and saw that no-one else was there. Shrugging, he removed Rebellion and his handguns, before shedding his coat and aimlessly throwing it towards the coat hanger. It landed on one of the hooks, as Dante headed upstairs to the main bedroom, finding Trish asleep on the bed, dressed in a white tank top and a pair of jeans. Smiling at the beautiful sight of his wife, Dante headed to the nursery room, peeking in the cot at his six-month-old twin children. Jenny was asleep, while Tristan was wide awake, staring at his father with quizzical blue eyes.

"Hey bud, you're awake huh? Well, you're not crying, so that's good."

As Dante smiled at his son, he remembered a part of the vision he had received from his future self. Where in another six months time, Jester would return from the dead and kidnap Tristan, taking him away to a different dimension where, over the course of eighteen years, would corrupt Tristan to fight against his family, in a similar manner to how Mundus had corrupted Vergil. But now, because of that vision, Dante knew he had a chance to prevent it from happening and watch his son grow up under his watchful eye, unlike his future counterpart who had missed out on his son's growth, even though the future Tristan was able to be turned good again.

"Come on, bud, let you sister continue sleeping."

Picking his son up, Dante left the room and checked in on Trish again, before heading downstairs to his office, showing his son the numerous weapons on display, before stopping before the framed pair of bloodied cutlaseers and sadness overcame Dante as he thought about Lucia. In the future, she would come back to life as the Goddess of Death and attempt to resurrect Mephistopheles, but would fail and be restored to normal. She would even resurrect Dante himself after he would be killed in a fight against the son of Mundus and a few of his allies.

"I tell you what, kiddo, knowing the future is a funny thing," Dante said to Tristan as he sat down at the desk, "Especially knowing what's going to happen for the next thirty years. You turn evil and try to kill me, I even die, then we all die."

Tristan gurgled, having no idea what his father was talking about and instead, reached out for one of the car magazines littering the desk. Dante sighed briefly, remembering all the adult magazines that Trish had either thrown out or torched.

"Six months old and already a car enthusiast," Dante said, "That's my boy."

Tristan looked up at his father, before throwing up partially-digested breast milk. If it wasn't for his quick reflexes, Dante would have ended up with it all over his leather shirt, so instead, it ended up on the chair seat, while the rest of it dribbled down Tristan's chin. Dante growled in annoyance, holding his son away from him as he headed upstairs to the nursery and laying him down on the changing table, before hunting through the closest for some baby wipes and a change of clothes. Just as he found said items, a cry sounded from the cot and Dante put the items down, ready to tend to his daughter, but then Trish walked into the room and picked Jenny up, soothing her with a soft lullaby. Dante smiled as he watched his wife tend to their daughter, but the smile faded as the vision flashed back to him. The part where Trish was lying dead in a pool of her own blood and the twins were slumped over each other, killed in combat….

"Dante, are you okay?" Trish asked.

"Hmm, what? Sorry, spaced out there for a second."

Trish rolled her eyes, "Doesn't surprise me. Tristan still needs cleaning up."

"Oh right."

Grabbing the items once again, Dante headed back over to his son and removed the soiled jumpsuit, before cleaning off his chin and dressing him in a red singlet that said 'Mommy's Special Boy' on the front. Pleased with his work, Dante picked Tristan up and headed back downstairs, just as Vergil entered the store.

"So, did you find anything?" he asked as Dante sat at his desk.

"A bar fight," the younger twin shrugged nonchalantly, "You?"

Vergil shook his head at the sounds of his brother's antics, "Well, I went home and searched through some of my books. Found only a few references to him."

"Uh-huh" Dante said, pulling faces at his son and seemingly not paying attention.

"Well, he was last seen around two thousand years ago, before our father defeated Mundus and sealed off the demon realm. And there was also stories that he was second-in-command to Mundus."

"I thought Daddy dearest was second-in-command."

"It seems there are conflicting reports. Some say Sparda was. Others say Asmodeus was. It's also possible that they both were, because there are hints of a rivalry."

"Any word on where his seal would be resting?"

Vergil shook his head, "After Sparda sealed away Mundus, Asmodeus disappeared, but apparently, he wasn't sealed away. He just simply disappeared."

Trish came downstairs with Jenny in her arms, heading into the main living room, as Dante followed after her, Tristan in his arms and placed him in the playpen with his twin, before facing his wife.

"You know, there's a chance they'll fall asleep early tonight," Trish smirked with a twinkle in her eyes, "Give us some time to ourselves."

Dante grinned, "Sounds great. I can't wait."

Leaving Trish with the twins, Dante headed back into the office, just as Nero arrived at the store, but with Celeste trailing not far behind him.

"Nero, why is Celeste here?" Dante asked.

The youngest of the four glared at her older brother.

"I live here, you dumbass. I was out on a hunt, remember?"

"Oh. Right. Sorry."

"You should be, you big dope. Anyhow, Nero told me what's going on. About this vision of yours, Dante. Obviously, I want to live to a nice ripe old age of two hundred, so I'm joining you boys on this. And no complaints."

"None here," Dante said, "But I didn't want to bring you into this."

Celeste scoffed, "I would have found out sooner or later. Nero's too easy."

Nero stared off into the distance, trying to look innocent, but failing miserably under the glares from his older brothers. Vergil rolled his eyes and headed into the office, where his siblings soon joined him.

"Well, the good news is we have at least another thirty years before Asmodeus is due to rise," Vergil said, "But I would rather take him out now. In theory, he should be in a weakened state, giving us the chance to kill him."

"Yeah, if he was sealed away, which, according to you, he isn't," Dante said.

"We can only try. There has to be some acolytes that still worship him. Dante, how did Asmodeus return in the future?"

"He just suddenly appeared out of nowhere and began destroying the city. I think it was…it was at Dumary Island where he showed up."

"Alright, then we're going to Dumary Island."

"But…but…but, I wanna spend some time with Trish tonight," Dante whined, "It might be a while before we get to have some time to ourselves again. You'll soon see what I'm talking about."

Vergil sighed, "Fine then. Tomorrow, we'll head to Dumary Island."

"Thanks, bro."

Vergil rolled his eyes and left the shop, as Nero followed after him, while Celeste headed upstairs to her room, muttering something about having a hot shower.

**_†††††††††††_**

Asmodeus crossed the dimly-lit street, surprised at how few demons there were out hiding in the shadows, waiting to strike down their next victim. In fact, there weren't even a single demon in sight. Frowning, Asmodeus made his way towards a demon bar, aiding by the scent in the cool, night air. A human wouldn't have been able to detect the smell of demons until they were right in the centre, but a demon had no problem sniffing others out and tracking them down.

After locating the bar, Asmodeus entered the large room, his nostrils flaring in disgust at the mingling smells of demons and magical alcohol. All at once, the demons turned their gaze to the newcomer, as Asmodeus strode inside, holding himself high and proud amongst the common lower filth of the Underworld.

"V-Vergil? Why are you here?" asked a trembling Pyromancer demon.

"Vergil? Do I look or smell like that scum of Sparda's offspring?" Asmodeus snarled with rage, "I am Asmodeus, a pure demon and second-in-command to Mundus!"

"O-oh, my apologies, with all due respect to the fallen Demon King."

Asmodeus reached over the bar and grabbed the Pyromancer, pulling him onto the bar, as all the demons stood up, ready to defend their bartender against this mistreatment. Asmodeus looked around at the demons and smiled.

"Tell me, where am I?"

"Fortuna Island," the Pyromancer replied.

"And tell me, what year is this?"

"Twenty-ten, Lord Asmodeus."

"And where does Dante, the demon hunter, live?"

"Why would you want to know where he lives? It's suicide to fight Dante. All those who have try to take him out never returned."

"Well, that's where you're wrong."

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	4. Confrontation with Asmodeus

_**†††††††††††**_

The phone in Devil May Cry went off with a shrill ring in the early morning. Dante groaned and ducked his head under his pillow, trying to block the noise out.

"Trish, get the phone," he grumbled sleepily.

"Your shop, your business, your phone," she replied, "You answer it."

"Celeste! Answer the phone!" Dante called out.

"You answer it, you lazy bum!" his sister shot back from across the second floor.

"Answer it before the twins wake up and I kill you," Trish muttered.

Grumbling, Dante forced himself out of bed, slipping on a pair of jeans as he made his way downstairs, picking up the phone and plopping down in his chair, resting his face on the desk as he answered the phone.

"Devil May Cry," he yawned into the speaker.

"Dante," cried Morrison, "I've got some news for you."

"Oh thrill. Do tell. Let's hope it's worth getting myself out of bed for. Does it pay?"

"Sorry, not this time."

"Then I'm not interested."

"I think you should be. A bar full of demons were slaughtered over night."

"And part of me cares why?"

"Because apparently, the attacker wasn't human. It was a demon."

That caught Dante's attention and he straightened up from the desk.

"Say what? A demon was involved in the massacre? Well then again, it's not my problem. Sometimes demons kill each other, which is annoying, cause while they're doing my job for me, it means less money for me."

"Well, we got a name of the demon responsible. Ever heard of Asmodeus?"

A shiver went down Dante's spine. Did he hear correctly? Asmodeus? But the demon wasn't due to arrive for another thirty years. If the name was correct, then how did Asmodeus arrive here thirty years before his due arrival? Was it some result of Dante receiving a vision from his future self? These questions needed answering fast.

"What's the address, Morrison? I'll be there soon."

Morrison gave him the address and hung up, as Dante got up from his desk and grabbed a red coat from the hanger, slipping it on and not bothering with a shirt, then put on a pair of gloves and boots, before holstering Ebony and Ivory, then placing Rebellion inside a guitar case and leaving the shop. He got onto his motorcycle and started it up, racing off towards the direction of the massacre. Weaving in and out of traffic, Dante soon arrived at a back alley and pulled up, where Morrison greeted him, finishing off the rest of his cigarette.

"I'm actually quite surprised you came here, Dante," Morrison said.

"Well, you may never know. A high tier demon slaughtering a bunch of common filth. Could be part of a ritual that awakens some massively powerful demon."

"You got a point. It's right this way. Come on."

Morrison led Dante downstairs into the derelict back alley demon pub. Dante wrinkled his nose in disgust at the stench of the pub, made worse with the mingling of demonic blood and decaying flesh. The bartender, a Pyromancer demon, was the only living thing left in the pub, as Dante and Morrison surveyed the mess.

"So, this demon. His name was Asmodeus, right?" Dante asked the Pyromancer.

"Indeed. He told me himself, right before he killed everyone."

"I see. Did he tell you anything else apart from his name?"

"He asked what place this was, what year it was and where you lived. I told him it was suicide to seek you out, but I don't think he believed me."

"Do you know where Asmodeus went after killing everyone?"

The Pyromancer shook its head, as Dante sighed and left the pub with Morrison.

"He asked what year it was?" Morrison asked, lighting up a cigarette, "Maybe he's been out of commission for a while and only just woke up."

"Yeah, probably. I'm gonna get Vergil to look up Asmodeus, then I'm gonna hunt him down and find out what his deal is exactly," Dante said.

Saying goodbye to Morrison, the hybrid climbed onto his motorcycle and roared off back towards the office. He was thinking about how Asmodeus could have arrived here so early, when an ball of energy came flying out of nowhere and slammed into the road just in front of Dante. The motorcycle flipped through the air, as Dante pushed off and twisted around in mid-air to avoid the flying motorcycle, landing on his feet, as the motorcycle crashed into the road and bounced once, coming to a rest atop a parked car. Thankfully, no-one was in the vehicle, as Dante looked around for the source of the attack. And when it appeared, he knew straight away who it was. It was hard to forget the face of the one who would end up slaughtering your family.

"So, you must be Asmodeus," Dante said, crossing his arms over his chest, "Hmm. I thought you would be a bit…taller?"

"So, you know me, even though technically, we shouldn't meet for another thirty years," Asmodeus said, mimicking Dante's stance.

"Well, a little birdy whispered it in my ear. Actually, it was more like the future version of me sending his memories back through time to me."

"Ah, so that would explain how I got here. I must have been pulled through time by the aftershock of your attack. Intriguing. And this is you, in your prime."

"I like to think that I'm always in my prime."

"Well, at least now I have the chance to kill you before you become too much of a nuisance," Asmodeus said, drawing his zweihander.

"And here I was thinking I was a charming, easy-going, fun kinda guy," Dante said, "But if you wanna fight, then okay."

Dante whipped out Ebony and Ivory, blasting away with the handguns, as Asmodeus blocked with his massive sword, quickly disappearing from sight and reappearing behind Dante, swinging his zweihander. Dante made a quick dash to his left, drawing Rebellion and slashing wide, as Asmodeus blocked the blow, then pushed back and slashed, only for Dante to leap nimbly out of the way.

"Maybe that trip through time scrambled your abilities," Dante grinned.

Asmodeus stabbed with his sword, impaling a car through the passenger door, as Dante kicked him in the face from atop the impaled car, then flipped over Asmodeus and fired off a shot with Ebony. Asmodeus fell back against the car, a single bullet wound in his head, as Dante holstered the handgun. Asmodeus groaned and got up, his body spitting the bullet out of his head, as the wound closed up.

"Weren't expecting that, were you?" Asmodeus smirked.

"I was. I just wasn't expecting that you'd be this…how do I say this without hurting your feelings…weak."

Asmodeus lunged, swinging the zweihander, as Dante blocked and leapt back, but a ball of energy struck him in the chest and he was blasted through the nearby building, sliding along the floor amongst the shattered wood and brick, coming to a rest against a large desk, as Asmodeus stepped inside, holding another ball of energy in his hand.

"You were saying, Dante?"

The demon hunter got to his feet, as Rebellion started glowing red. Dante slashed the air with his sword, as a band of red energy flew from the blade, slicing through the air towards Asmodeus. He dodged the energy, but was collected by the next two bands. However, as he flew backwards out of the building, he threw the energy ball, which caught Dante in the chest and blasted him out through the other side of the building.

"Oh boy, that tickled," Dante said, getting to his feet.

Asmodeus suddenly appeared before him, bringing his sword down overhead. Dante raised Rebellion with both hands, blocking the blow, as Asmodeus drove his knee into Dante's chest, knocking him back. Falling onto his back, Dante instantly sprang upwards, surprising Asmodeus and with a grin, let loose with his trademark Stinger attack. Asmodeus barely blocked the blow in time, sliding along the road on his feet, as Dante lunged at him, bringing Rebellion down overhead. Asmodeus swung his sword upwards, knocking Dante higher into the air, then leapt after him, unleashing a flurry of blows, which Dante was able to block, before kicking him in the stomach towards the roof of a nearby building and gathering up energy in his left hand.

"You ready for this, Dante?" Asmodeus asked.

BLAM!

The demon whirled around, only for his head to snap back and he fell from the sky, crashing into the road, as Dante looked in the direction of the gunshot, seeing Celeste standing atop another building, a smirk on her face as she lowered her handgun. Asmodeus growled as he got to his feet, digging the bullet out of his head and tossing it to the ground, as he turned his attention to Celeste.

"Another Sparda brat, huh? No matter, your time will come. I promise you that. This isn't over, Dante. We will meet again. And next time, you will die."

Before Dante or Celeste could do anything, Asmodeus disappeared from sight, as if he had teleported away from the scene. Dante sighed, sheathing Rebellion on his back, as his sister soon joined his side.

"I'm guessing that was Asmodeus?" Celeste asked.

"Yep, that was," Dante replied.

**_†††††††††††_**


	5. Opening the Hell Gates

**_†††††††††††_**

The two devils came to a stop in mid-air, before transforming into Vergil and Nero, falling towards the ground, landing on the sidewalk, creating a small crater with the force of their landing, but the two brothers simply moved on as if it didn't faze them. That morning, Vergil had gone to Nero's home and kicked him out of bed (by shooting him with several phantom swords when the latter refused to get up) and dragged him all the way to Dumary Island in order to try and find Asmodeus. Vergil had done some late-night reading and learned that Asmodeus did have acolytes arriving for his return and that they were based at Dumary Island.

"I dunno why you woke me up so early," Nero yawned, "Could have waited for another few more hours. Wouldn't hurt, you know."

"Well, I am an early morning sort of person. I'm sure you understand."

"Ass."

The pair made their way along the streets, moving amongst the crowd and none to their surprise, nobody objected upon seeing two men walking down the street while carrying swords. Most of the civilians here knew of Dante and how he had saved their city from the iron grip of Arius and they also knew of Vergil and Nero, from sightings and whisperings in the bar about the two new demon hunters. The elder of the siblings suddenly ducked down an alley, as the younger followed after him through the twisting roads of the inter-connecting alleys, finding stopping in front of a small, run-down building that had the lingering scent of demons all over it.

"Smells like a demon bar," Nero said, "They seem to have so many spread out all over the place. Do they really like getting drunk that much?"

Vergil shrugged and headed up to the front door, easing it open and stepping inside. The room was bland, with wooden floors and a few tables and chairs spread out across the space. A bar was against the opposite wall, though it wasn't very large. The only occupant in the room was a very human bartender, busying wiping out the inside of the beer mugs, before putting them away behind the counter.

"Getting ready for the night?" Vergil called out, "Don't know why you're here so early. There's no customers."

"Can I help you with something?" the bartender asked, not looking up.

"I believe you can. I'm looking for the remnants of those who used to worship Asmodeus back in the day. Think you can point me their way?"

"Sorry, friend, but I don't know what you're talking about. Perhaps you've started your ten o'clock a little earlier than normal."

"Or maybe you don't want to tell me in order to protect your fellow spankers."

"Dude, what?" Nero asked.

"Being a son of Sparda, I will find your friends and your master and I will kill them all very slowly," Vergil said with a hint of a smirk.

The bartender stopped what he was doing and looked over at Vergil.

"Did you say you're a son of Sparda?"

"Indeed. Couldn't you smell it when I walked in?"

The bartender started convulsing, before letting out an inhuman roar and his skin was shredded by his transformation. An eight-foot-tall demon with gold skin, a dark purple chest, stomach, forearms and inner thighs stood in the bartender's place, its small black eyes blazing with hatred at Vergil, licking it's protruding fangs, as a pair of horns grew from its skull-like head, curling forward like a pair of ram's horns.

"Sparda!" the demon snarled in an unearthly voice, "You will die."

Vergil grinned as Yamato clinked in its sheath, as Nero reached back for the Red Queen. The demon snarled and opened it mouth, a tongue of flames bursting forth towards the brothers. They leapt out of the way, as the front of the building was shattered by the flames. Vergil landed, as the demon came flying at him and with one sweep of it arm, sent the hybrid flying through the roof. Nero drew the Red Queen, as the rest of the building was suddenly destroyed by the numerous portal that opened up, dispelling demons of the same kind, as they joined the former bartender.

"Oh crap," Nero said.

One of the demons roared and lashed out at Nero, as he swung the Red Queen, twisting the handle as he did, before punching with his Devil Bringer. The demon grabbed the Devil Bringer and flung Nero to the side, just as Vergil shot back into the ruined building, delivering a powerful Beowulf kick to the head of a demon. It slammed into the ground, as Vergil landed and spun around, punching his fist through another demon's chest. Two demons breathed jets of flames at him, but he teleported out of the way, reappearing behind the pair, before rushing forward and drawing Yamato in the same movement. The top halves of the two demons fell away from their legs once Vergil sheathed Yamato.

Nero got to his feet, revving up the Red Queen, as three demons lunged at him. He rushed at them, before pulling off his Ex-Streak attack, a ring of flames surrounding him and burning the demons as the Red Queen sliced into their bodies. Nero uppercutted one of the demons with the Devil Bringer, then quickly pulled it back to the ground and punched it through the floor. A demon slashed at Nero, as he rolled to his left, before striking with his Light Bringer. The demon staggered back in a dazed state, before getting pinned to a broke wall by a spear.

"Where is Asmodeus resting?" Vergil demanded.

"Not going to tell you, Sparda scum," one of the demons snarled.

It roared and lunged at him, but Vergil leapt over the demon, spinning around and landing, sheathing Yamato. The demon collapsed to the ground in four separate parts, as Vergil whirled around, purple lines appearing on the next two demons. He smirked and slashed with Yamato, as the demons fell apart into several pieces upon the katana clicking into its sheath. Nero was currently beating up one of the demons with its own arm, as Vergil approached the last demon.

"Perhaps you'll talk?"

The demon breathed a jet of flames at Vergil, as Nero came in from the side, delivering a Devil Bringer blow to the demon's head, staggering it, then flung it to the ground and pressed the Blue Rose up against the back of its head.

"Start talking," Nero said, "Where is Asmodeus?"

"Right here."

Vergil and Nero looked up, as twin energy balls slammed into them, blasting them through the remainder of the building. Asmodeus strode forward, as the demon hobbled over and knelt before him.

"Master! You have risen! Earlier than we expected, but still, you're here. We have waited for your return for so long now."

"Yes, well," Asmodeus grinned at his acolyte, "I want you to find the rest of my faithful followers. We are going to open the hell gates and rule this world."

"Of course, Master."

The demon rose up onto its feet, as five phantom swords impaled its body from behind, the tips just stopping short from Asmodeus' face. The demon collapsed to the ground, as Vergil and Nero stepped back into view.

"So, you're Asmodeus, huh?" Vergil said, "You're a little early."

"Perhaps it's because I'm not the Asmodeus of this time," the demon replied, "In fact, I'm the very same one who kills you in thirty years time."

"No. That can't be," Nero cried, "It shouldn't be."

"But it is. And while I love to stay and kill you again, I've got things to do."

Asmodeus smiled as he faded away from sight, another five phantom swords just missing him by a mere second. Vergil growled in frustration, as Nero sheathed the Red Queen and looked around at the chaotic scenery.

"So, what do we do now?"

"We head back to the shop and we tell Dante."

**_†††††††††††_**

"So, this is one of the hell gates, huh?" Asmodeus asked.

"It is, Master," a demon replied, "There are a few others, as well as the main hell gate under the city. But that one requires a key."

"Don't worry, I already have an idea on how I'm going to open that one."

After dealing with Vergil and Nero, Asmodeus had searched for more of his followers and soon found them, before taking them to one of the hell gates in Fortuna. He knew that if all four children of Sparda fought him at once, it was likely that at his current power, they would outmatch him. And he wasn't going to let that happen. Mundus' throne was still open to contention and he needed someway to distract the siblings until he was able to breach the gateways between the realms. And he already had a few ideas on how he was going to do that.

"Now, it's time to awaken this hell gate and let the chaos begin," Asmodeus said.

He drew a dagger off his belt, before removing his gloved greave and drawing a line across his palm, before pressing it to the hell gate. It absorbed his blood and began pulsing, as a green line of energy soon appeared down the centre of the hell gate.

"Adramelech, I call you forth!" Asmodeus cried.

**_†††††††††††_**


	6. The Demon Adramelech

**_†††††††††††_**

"Let us pray."

Kyrie joined the rest of the commuters in the prayer, reciting the well-known words under her breath, along with everyone else. Nero wasn't with her, as he was still at home, sleeping in after been woken up rudely by Vergil yesterday morning. He looked very cute when he was sleeping and Kyrie smiled to herself, glad that she had him.

Suddenly, the doors to the cathedral burst open, surprising everyone, as a tall man with spiked white hair and dressed in a glossy black armour with a long flowing cape came walking into the building, looking at everyone with a predatory look in his eyes. Several Bianco Angelos flew into the room, with a few hovering in the air over the civilians, while others landed behind Asmodeus. He smiled as he made his way to the altar, where Kyrie was standing alongside the High Priest. Several knights stepped forward to defend the cathedral, but within seconds, they were all pinned to the walls by the lances of the Bianco Angelos, as the civilians gasped in horror.

"Now, Kyrie, yes?" Asmodeus asked and when the young woman nodded, he continued, "Good. I'm going to ask you to come with me."

Kyrie shook her head, but Asmodeus simply grabbed her by her arm.

"I'm not taking no for an answer."

He turned and started to pull the young singer towards the doors, but then he suddenly went flying through the air due to the energy shield she created around herself. A few Bianco Angelos pulled away from their victims and dived down towards Kyrie, as she created another shield and sent them bouncing off into the walls. In the confusion, civilians started running for the exit, as the Bianco Angelos flew for them. Kyrie lowered her shield and created another above the civilians, deflecting the Biancos, scattering them through the air. Asmodeus growled and got up, throwing a small energy ball at Kyrie that sent her flying back against the altar. She let out a cry of pain and fell to her side, as Asmodeus lifted her up by her arm harshly.

"You're lucky I need you alive, otherwise you would be very dead right now."

Asmodeus strode towards the exit, dragging Kyrie along her knees, until she was able to finally grasp her footing. People were sill running in panic, as Asmodeus raised his hand, firing a blast of energy that completely destroyed the front of the cathedral, killing anyone in the way with both the explosion and collapsing debris. He walked through the falling destruction without a hint of fear, dragging Kyrie beside him, as Biancos flew out around him. People ran screaming in a panic, as Scarecrows came rolling into view on their blades, opening up to assume their stances, then lunging at the fleeing crowd and slicing through their bodies with ease.

**_†††††††††††_**

Nero woke up with a shock. He had a strange feeling that something was very wrong. Something was very wrong indeed. Bolting out of bed, he hurriedly pulled on his pants and shirt, zipped up his hoodie, then flung his coat on, while grabbing the Blue Rose and the Red Queen and raced outside to his parked motorcycle. Starting it up, he flew towards the cathedral, as people filled the streets, screaming in horror. His fears were confirmed when several Biancos appeared in the air, one of them flying towards him. Nero stood up on the motorcycle, before jumping off, as a second Bianco suddenly appeared and slammed into him, taking him up into the air. Nero punched the Bianco in the face, then used his Devil Bringer to zoom in on the next one and slash with the Red Queen. The Bianco blanched, as Nero delivered another strike, then flew towards another Bianco, but an Alto suddenly attacked from behind, slamming Nero into the road below. He groaned and rammed his elbow backwards, knocking the Alto off, then swiftly got to his feet and whirled around, blocking the Alto's sword, then drove his Devil Bringer into its chest. The Alto barely flinched, slashing at Nero's head. He dodged the blade, before ramming a charged Blue Rose into the demon's face.

"Say goodbye."

The gun fired and the Alto's armour was shattered, the demon soul escaping into the ether, as the rest of Biancos landed and surrounded Nero, aiming their lances at him. He looked around at them, already planning out a method of attack, when a wall of flames suddenly exploded beneath two Biancos, shattering the armour and freeing their souls, as a pillar of fire erupted beneath another Bianco. Nero watched in confusion as the rest of the Biancos were obliterated by sudden blasts of fire. And then, from amongst the flames, a figure appeared, walking towards Nero. He was taller than the hybrid, dressed in black armour with red lining on the coattails and the armoured cloth that hung from his waist. However, his head looked like a skull carved out of black onyx, flames surrounding the head, as the demon held his hands out to the sides, a ball of fire appearing in each palm.

"So, who would you be?" Nero asked, "Ghost Rider reject?"

"I am Adramelech," the demon replied in a raspy voice, as if its vocal cords were in fire, "And I was summoned here by Asmodeus to destroy you, Nero."

"Well, alright then, let's get down to it, shall we? Let's dance"

Nero crossed his feet and did a small, mocking bow.

**_†††††††††††_**

_Earlier…_

Dante groaned as he opened his eyes to the sound of not one, but both babies crying. He sat up in bed, as Trish's smooth, cool hand circled around his waist and he laid back down into her arms, content to be there, but he knew it wouldn't last very long. The twins were calling and he had to get up.

"Celeste can get them," Trish murmured sleepily, "Stay for a bit."

Sure enough, he heard his sister move along the hallway and enter the nursery, as the twins soon quieted down and he let out a small sigh, pulling himself back into bed and close to Trish, wrapping an arm around his wife's petite waist.

"Ah, I wish I didn't have to get up," Dante said.

"Yeah, one of these days, we should go for a vacation," Trish suggested, "Get away for a bit. Have some time to ourselves," she added with a suggestive tone.

Dante grinned and kissed Trish on the lips, as the phone rang downstairs. The couple ignored it, focusing only on each other, but then a few minutes later, Celeste was banging on the door, asking if they were decent or not.

"Go away," Dante called, as Trish nipped at his neck.

"Something bad is going down," Celeste shouted through the door, "The Cathedral was attacked today and there's demons everywhere."

Dante flopped down on the bed with a groan, as Trish let out a similar sigh. Forcing himself out of bed, slipping on his red pants with black leather chaps, an elbow-length black T-shirt and then a black leather vest with three buckles across the torso. Tying his belt off, Dante headed downstairs, slipping on a pair of gloves and black boots with brown, marked leather coverings. He zipped them up, then reached for his half-sleeve red leather coat, as Celeste joined him downstairs.

"You know, this is really eating into my personal life," Dante grumbled.

"What personal life?" Celeste asked with a small smile.

"The one I had…before I got married. Shut up."

Celeste smiled to herself, as Dante grabbed Lucifer and the Gilgamesh armour, absorbing them into his body, along with Pandora, before holstering the Coyote-A shotgun, Ebony and Ivory, then sheathing Rebellion on his back, joining Celeste by the door as they left the shop and got onto their red motorcycles, before racing off towards the scene of the crisis.

**_†††††††††††_**

Nero dived behind a car to avoid the fireball, then leapt away from the car just as a second fireball destroyed the vehicle with a small explosion. Leaping up onto a nearby building roof, Nero whirled around, as Adramelech floated up before him, placing his hands together, palm out and launching a wave of flames that struck Nero and sent him skidding along the rooftop. However, he fired away with the Blue Rose as he slid, though the bullets bounced off Adramelech's armour, as he roared and raised his hands. Nero felt the ground beneath grow red-hot and quickly rolled to his left, as a pillar of flames burst up from his original place. Quickly getting to his feet, Nero shot out his Devil Bringer, punching Adramelech in the chest. The demon flinched, as Nero brought himself in close, swinging the Red Queen, but Adramelech caught the blade, before unleashing a blast of flames upon the young warrior. He screamed in pain, stumbling back amongst the flames. Adramelech grinned, however, he was caught by surprise when Nero Devil Triggered, the energy flux blasting him off the building roof. Landing neatly on the road, Adramelech looked up, as Nero leapt down in his devil form, all his wounds instantly healed from the transformation.

"Now, let's play," Nero growled.

**_†††††††††††_**


	7. Fighting in Style

**_†††††††††††_**

The Scarecrow giggled with glee as it performed a bouncing leap and sliced a human in half. A split second later, its head was impaled to the ground by a long, thin sword, as the rest of the Scarecrows and one Mega Scarecrow stopped what they were doing and looked over at their fallen brethren by the large water fountain.

"I think it's your bedtime, children," Vergil grinned, crossing his arms over.

Yamato was still impaled through the Scarecrow's head, as its body melted away to black gas. The rest of the Scarecrows folded up into bladed balls and flew at Vergil. Waiting until the last moment, he snatched Yamato out of the ground, slicing through a Scarecrow, then whirling around and tossing Yamato to his right hand, slicing another Scarecrow in half. The Mega Scarecrow dropped down from behind, as Vergil teleported out of the way, slicing a Scarecrow diagonally in half. A Scarecrow leapt for Vergil, only to receive three phantom swords straight through its body, as Vergil whirled around, using Yamato to block the Mega Scarecrow's blades.

"Think fast."

Vergil pushed back against the blades with ease, then appeared behind the Mega Scarecrow and sheathed Yamato. When it clicked into place, the Mega Scarecrow fell apart in halves, before disappearing in black gas. Vergil smirked to himself, but then his attention was draw to the arrival of a small group of Assaults and Goatlings. Vergil smirked, as a Goatling fired several blasts of magical energy. Leaping into the air, Vergil drew Yamato and slashed wide. The Goatling fell dead to the ground, as Vergil pushed off one of the large walls, flipping over and dodging a spear fired by an Assault, then flicked his wrist, firing off a purple blade of energy that sliced the Assault down the middle. Goatlings and Assaults surrounded him, all prepared to attack, as a sinister, yet amused smile came to Vergil's face.

**_†††††††††††_**

"Whoa," Dante said.

The Cathedral was wrecked. Pieces of wood and glass continued to randomly fall to the ground, while dead bodies of civilians surrounded the area, a sea of blood washing the steps and streets in the nearby vicinity.

"And we just had this place rebuilt!" Dante cried, "And we'll keep rebuilding it until I destroy the entire island!"

"You're gonna end up destroying all of Fortuna?" Celeste asked in an amused tone.

"Yeah, well, it needs a complete remodel anyway."

Several Scarecrows came rolling into view, as several Biancos Angelos flew about in the air. A few Faust demons materialised out of nothing, along with the Seven Sin demons, a Hell Vanguard, a pack of Blood Goats and several Marionettes. Dante drew Rebellion and rested the tip on the ground, as Celeste drew out her Dragon Blades.

"It's time to crash this party."

A Blood Goat fired off several energy projectiles, as Dante dashed out of the way, striking a Scarecrow with Rebellion and sending it flying into the air. As the demon came falling down, Dante spun Rebellion around like a propeller, shredding the demon into tiny bits, then blasted a Marionette in the face with the shotgun. A Bianco Angelo rocketed towards Dante. Switching to Gilgamesh, he launched into a series of blazing kicks upon the demonic knight, halting it in its tracks, finishing the combo off with a kick into the air. A few Pride and Lust demons came flying for Dante at the same time, as he drew back his fist, charging energy up into the gauntlet, then punching the ground, releasing the energy and creating a shockwave that blasted the Pride and Lusts into the air. Leaping up after them and summoning Lucifer. Grinning, Dante fired out phantom swords rapidly, impaling the demons falling around him, before firing out several more and leaving them hanging in the air, as he touched down and clapped his hands. The swords left hanging in the air shot off to impale the Fausts, before exploding, along with the rest of the swords.

Pride and Lust demons blew apart into dust, while the Fausts were reduced to their insect-like form, getting obliterated mere moments later by Ebony and Ivory. Meanwhile, Celeste was carving up a nine-course meal amongst the rest of the Hell Sin demons, while freezing nearby Marionette into blocks of ice, as the Hell Vanguard suddenly appeared, swinging its gigantic scythe. Celeste nimbly dodged out of the way, electrocuting a Blood Goat, then whirling around to block the Vanguard's scythe. A Bianco came flying up behind Celeste, but while keeping her eyes on the Vanguard, she aimed a kick backwards, catching the Bianco in the chest. Shoving the Vanguard back, Celeste stabbed the Bianco in the chest, then leaned back, raising her Dragon Blades to block the Vanguard's next strike.

"Sorry, big fella, still not interested," she smirked.

She pulled forward, hurling the large Vanguard over her shoulder and sent it crashing into two Blood Goats, then summoned a small tornado that picked them up and hurled them through the air. A Bianco flew at Celeste from behind, as she stabbed backwards without looking. Flames erupted around the Bianco and its armour shattered, as Celeste sheathed the Blades, while her brother sauntered up to her side, his sword resting on his shoulder as he nodded in approval, looking around at the scene.

"Well, that was quite fun, but that was just the warm-up," he grinned.

"And here comes the real show," Celeste noted.

Dante turned around, grinning when he saw a pair of Orangguerras, flanked by Abyss, more Blood Goats, Scarecrows, a Plutonian or three and a large Blitz demon, as a pack of Kyklops were heading towards the siblings from the opposite direction. Smirking, Dante touched Rebellion's tip on the ground and pulled a pose.

"Come on ladies, let's make a nice, neat line-up and I'll kill you all one at a time."

**_†††††††††††_**

Trish opened the front door as Lady greeted her and entered the shop.

"What's going on?" Trish asked, briefly checking on the twins.

"Something's going on with Vergil," Lady said, "He's been spending most of his time lately either in the library or training heavily. And I don't know why."

"Isn't that what Vergil does anyway?"

"Not as much as he has been lately. And I'm worried about it. Add to this that there's demons everywhere all of a sudden and I've got a feeling something big is going down right now. And I can't help out at all."

"Now that you've mentioned it, he and Nero have been coming here awfully a lot," Trish said, "And I think I overhead them talking with Celeste about a demon."

"What kind of demon?"

"I don't know. But if there are demons out there right now, then something big is going down. Plus, I'm going to demand answers from Dante, whether he gives them willingly or painfully. You don't mind watching them for me?"

"I don't mind," Lady said, before adding with a smile, "I mean, what else can I do? I'm currently two months pregnant with a half-demon's child."

Trish smiled and holstered Luce and Ombre, before grabbing Alastor from its shelf. Although the sword protested about being in the hands of someone other than Dante, Trish sent a small bolt of lightning through the weapon and it quickly complied. She smiled, as she sheathed it on her back, then headed over to Lady, who was kneeling beside the twins on the floor, watching as they tried to crawl about.

"Okay, I'll be back soon," Trish said.

She knelt down and gave her children a kiss on the cheek each, before leaving the shop, as Lady sighed and settled herself down for babysitting duty.

**_†††††††††††_**

Nero smashed through the doors of the building, sliding amongst the glass, as Adramelech stepped in after him. Turning over, Nero threw three dark swords, as the demon smacked them aside, but he failed to deflect the light spear that came hurling at him, impaling him through the chest and taking him out of the building. Getting up in his demon form, Nero dodged the wave of fire shooting at his head, firing off his Devil Bringer and punching Adramelech in the face. The demon raised a tornado of flames around him, lifting himself up into the air as the flames grew larger.

"How are you going to stop me now, Nero?" Adramelech laughed, "Every second that passes, the flames grow hotter and wider. You can't save your city or yourself."

"Oh yeah? Guess you just don't know me very well," Nero smirked.

Running towards the tower of flames, Nero spread his wings and shot off from the ground, drawing back his Dark Bringer and punching it through the wall of fire. Adramelech gasped as the fist ploughed through his chest and the flames instantly died down. Nero landed on the road in his human form, as Adramelech's body exploded in a blast of white light, as mystical flames spread from the light and wrapped around Nero's right arm, moulding and forming to the demonic flesh as he watched in confusion. Spikes grew from the cracks in his forearm, while the skin turned dark orange with black streaks, the claws turned red and a small layer of flames appeared, covering the forearm.

"Wow," Nero said as he observed the Diablo Bringer, "That looks pretty sweet."

**_†††††††††††_**


	8. Birth of the Saviour

**_†††††††††††_**

"So, here we are," Asmodeus said, "This is the so-called Saviour?"

He stood before the giant statue, staring at it in wonder and awe. Kyrie was leaning against the wall behind the demon, trying to figure out a plan of escape and find a way to alert Nero and the others, if they didn't know already, from the amount of demons Asmodeus had already unleashed to distract the devil hunters. After doing so, Asmodeus had demanded the information and location of the Saviour, which Kyrie had reluctantly told him in order to spare her own life.

Meanwhile, Asmodeus was staring at the statue, knowing that it was part of his plan to seize his power once again. He had heard of the Saviour from his own timeline, but it had already been destroyed years earlier by Dante and the others. But back then, he didn't need the power of the Saviour. Here, however, now that he had lost over half of his power through the time stream, he needed the Saviour's power to achieve his goal. It was a good thing for him that he knew how to activate the statue.

"So, Kyrie, shall we begin?" Asmodeus asked, turning to the young priestess.

"What are you talking about?" Kyrie asked.

Asmodeus didn't answer. Instead, he grabbed her by her hair, then flew up towards the Saviour's head, hurling her towards the jewel. Kyrie phased through the jewel, as Asmodeus appeared beside her inside the Saviour's head, picking her up by her arm and taking her over to a chasm in the wall, holding her there as bands of energy wrapped around Kyrie's body and sucked her inside the chasm, a wall of light covering her from sight, as Asmodeus smiled and phased out of the Saviour. He continued preparing the finishing touches to the Saviour, grinning as its eyes suddenly opened and it raised its head to look at him. He had awakened the Saviour and now only needed one final piece in order to fully power the giant weapon. And he knew just where to get said final piece.

**_†††††††††††_**

An Alto Angelo held back its sword and flew above the ground towards its target, intent on slicing him in half. However, it ended up being the other way around. Vergil sheathed Yamato, causing the Alto's head to drop to the ground. Smirking, Vergil dodged a leaping Scarecrow, pelting its body with phantom swords. An Abyss appeared before Vergil and swung its scythe, but only struck air, as Vergil came flying down with a powerful Beowulf kick that bounced the Abyss off the ground, before flipping forward several times, the final blow turning the Abyss into a pile of red gloop that quickly faded away, as Vergil whirled around and sliced an Arachne across the face. The large spider-like demon howled, as Vergil appeared behind it and sheathed Yamato, causing the Arachne to fall apart into several parts.

A group of Assaults came leaping up around Vergil from all sides, their claws outstretched to tear into him, but Vergil didn't move. He didn't need to. A wave of flames washed over the Assaults, blasting them back from the eldest hybrid, as Nero appeared, swinging the Red Queen and hacking into the Assaults. One of them lunged for Nero, but the Diablo Bringer shot out and snatched it by the tail, as Nero then slammed it into the ground around him several times, taking out two Assaults, then hurled it into an oncoming group of Gbusmiras.

"That's a new arm you have there," Vergil noted, "Pretty impressive."

"Yeah and I'm getting the strangest feeling of déjà vu about it," Nero said, "Seen the other two yet?"

"They'll be here soon. I can just see it happening. Dante and Celeste will arrive at the same time we have just beaten back all the demons."

A bolt of blue lightning suddenly shot between the two brothers, striking a Hell Sloth demon. Slowly, Vergil and Nero turned around to face Trish, who stood there with one hand raised and the other resting against her hip.

"Where's Dante?" Trish demanded, "And what exactly is going on here? Is there another apocalypse going on and you forget to tell me about it?"

"Well, I think it's a little more complicated than that," Nero said, shooting a lumbering Scarecrow over his shoulder, "But Dante knows more than we do."

"And that in itself is quite surprising," Vergil muttered under his breath.

"So, until Dante fills in the blanks for me," Trish stared, glaring at Nero when he 'coughed', "Why don't you tell me what's going on?"

"I'm not so sure if it's our place to tell you," Vergil said.

"Vergil, since when has that mattered, especially in these circumstances?" Trish asked, zapping a Goatling repeatedly until it fell dead at her feet.

"Well…in thirty years time, we're all going to die," Nero said, "Some demon is going to suddenly appear and slaughter us all easily."

"Did you hit your head or something?"

"It's true," Vergil said, "Dante got a vision the other day. Funnily enough, it was all the memories of his future self sent back through time."

"Okay, this is starting to sound very crazy. And I deal with crazy every day."

"I know, we thought that as well when Dante told us. But the demon that kills us is now here, in this timeline, trying to rain destruction once again."

"But at least this time, we have a bit of a heads-up," Nero said, "So we have a chance."

"Well, when Dante gets here, I'll beat the answers out of him."

"Maybe I should give him a heads-up," Vergil said.

He was looking over Trish's shoulder and she turned around to see Dante and Celeste making their way through the lessening crowds of demons. Trish put her hands on her hips, tapping her foot as she waited for her husband to join them and when he did, he chuckled nervously upon seeing her angry look.

"Hey babe, looking good at always."

"Dante," Trish said calmly, "When you got a vision about the future where we all die, WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU TELL ME? I'M YOUR WIFE, REMEMBER?"

"Uh, well, I didn't want you to worry about it," Dante cried, "And I thought me and the others could handle this and have it sorted out without you knowing."

"This is Trish we're talking about," Celeste said, "You know she's bound to find out."

"Shut up," Dante told his sister, before turning back to his wife, "I'm sorry?"

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't hit you?" Trish asked.

"Because we have a chance to have a happy family for the next twenty years. In six months time, Tristan is going to be kidnapped and raised to hate us. Because I know of that now, we can prevent it and raise him with us instead of Jester."

Trish's expression softened at that news. She never ever thought that her son would be kidnapped and raised to hate his own parents, but from what Dante was telling her, it was what would happen soon. But if it was true what Dante was telling her, then at least they had a chance to prevent it from happening and raise him properly.

"Okay, well, you're forgiven," Trish said apologetically.

Dante smiled and headed towards his wife, intent of giving her a hug, but had to suddenly jump out of the way when the roof of a chapel came flying at them like a missile. The roof shattered, shooting wood and tiles in every direction. Once the dust settled, everyone looked up to see a massive statue standing before them. Dante's jaw dropped open when he saw the Saviour, memories flashing through his mind of the battle against the Saviour in nineteen years time, when Jester and Tristan would bring it to live in an attempt to take over the world. The plan had failed thanks to Nero, who had been absorbed into the statue and destroyed it from the inside out.

"Well, what do we have here?" Asmodeus grinned, perched on the Saviour's head, "Four little brats spawned from Sparda and oh yes, the clone of his beloved."

"I'm guessing that's the demon from the future?" Trish asked.

"Yep, sure is," Celeste said, "But what the hell is that statue he's riding?"

"It's the Saviour," Dante replied, "Jester would revive it in nearly twenty years, but we destroyed it. It's a very powerful weapon."

The Saviour drew back its fist and swung, punching the ground, as Dante opened up Pandora, firing off a few rockets. They slammed into the Saviour, rocking it back, as Vergil drew Yamato, the dimensional cuts slicing into the rock skin. The Saviour staggered back, as Asmodeus fired a blast of energy at Nero. He leapt over it, drawing back the Red Queen to strike at the Saviour.

"Nero, no!" Dante cried.

Kyrie appeared in the Saviour's forehead jewel and Nero faltered in his leap, allowing the Saviour to catch him in its hands. The young hybrid struggled to free himself, as Dante fired away at Asmodeus with Ebony and Ivory. The demon growled in annoyance, dodging the bullets and fired another energy blast. While that was going on, Nero was being absorbed into the Saviour, until he disappeared from sight and the Saviour glowed, a pair of circular wings appearing on its back and it rose higher into the sky, several building pieces floating up with it.

"What the hell just happened to Nero?" Celeste demanded, "Where did he go?"

"Wow. Déjà vu," Dante said.

**_†††††††††††_**

**Originally, I was going to have Deadpool appear in this as a sort of tribute to Marvel vs Capcom 3, due to it being classic Dante's final appearance before DmC, but I felt that his appearance would be very sudden, out of place with the world and wouldn't fit in with the story, so I had to cut him out. Shame really, I was looking forward to writing a Dante vs Deadpool fight**


	9. Rise of Abbadon

**_†††††††††††_**

"At last, the power of the Saviour now belongs to me!" Asmodeus cried, "Now there is nothing stopping me from achieving my goals!"

"Ah, dude, I think you forgot about us," Dante called, "Because if I remember correctly, we were able to destroy the Saviour. Shouldn't be too hard."

"You destroyed it in the future, where you were stronger. Not right now you will."

"Yeah, but I know how to destroy it. So there."

Asmodeus growled, as the Saviour began powering up energy into its 'wings'.

"Everyone move!" Dante shouted.

A massive beam of energy tore through the landscape, annihilating the buildings and roads, while shredding apart any humans and demons caught in the way, their energy flowing back to the Saviour and recharging it. In response, Dante leapt up, using Air Hike to reach the platforms hovering in mid-air around the giant statue, as Celeste, Vergil and Trish joined him, standing on the other platforms.

"So, you wish to die, do you?" Asmodeus said, "Well, I'll be more than happy to oblige a second time. Shouldn't be too hard."

"That's what you think," Vergil said.

He fired several phantom swords, which Asmodeus knocked aside, as the Saviour turned around to the eldest hybrid, punching at him with surprising speed. Vergil teleported to avoid the blow, before teleporting again to dodge a sudden kick, as the Saviour's elbow slammed down towards him. Vergil caught hold of the elbow, gritting his teeth as he tried to hold it off. Finally, he Devil Triggered, shoving the Saviour back and slashing wide with Yamato. Lacerations suddenly appeared in the Saviour's chest, as the actual slashes themselves finally rammed home, knocking the Saviour back further and causing it to fall onto a platform. Being the nearest, Dante leapt over, bringing Rebellion down and shattering the chest jewel. The Saviour swept its hand at him, but he landed on the hand, using Rebellion to hold himself there, as the Saviour rose back up into the air.

"Aim for the jewels," Dante called, "It's the one way to defeat it!"

The Saviour lashed out at him, as he leapt up, opening Pandora up into an air tank and hopping inside, before firing all twelve turrets. The rockets screamed through the air, smashing the forehead jewel and giving the Saviour a massive headache, as an energy blast slammed into Dante, taking him towards the streets below. Vergil fired several phantom swords at the right ankle, as two Biancos and an Alto appeared before him. Slashing wide, Vergil decapitated a Bianco with an energy slash, as the other Bianco flew at him like a missile. He leapt over the demonic knight, using Beowulf to block the Alto's strike and deliver a searing kicking combo that shattered the demon's armour and released the soul within. The Bianco flew at Vergil again, but he caught hold of the lance and proceeded to beat the Bianco into the ground until it shattered.

Meanwhile, Trish was shooting away with Luce and Ombra, until the Saviour lashed out at her, but she leapt up into the air, letting loose with a few lightning bolts that struck Asmodeus. He growled and threw a ball of energy that exploded upon impact, as Trish leapt out from the flames, twisting acrobatically and firing away with her handguns, as a gold glow covered her body and she flew to another platform, before unleashing a bolt of gold electric energy that shattered the Saviour's right wrist jewel when it reached for her. The Saviour recoiled, as several Bianco Angelos appeared, along with a few Dullahan demons.

"Sorry guys, I'm already taken."

**_†††††††††††_**

Dante was lying in a crater about half a foot deep in the road, his arms crossed over his chest and an annoyed look on his face. He really didn't appreciate being taken out of a fight like that. Taken out and ignored. And he hated being ignored.

"Right then, Mr. Saviour and Mr. Ass-modeus, you have pissed me off now," Dante muttered as he picked himself up, "You're in for it now. Once I get back up there."

He groaned and stretched his arms, feeling the joints pop and pull back into place, as several of Asmodeus' acolytes materialised before him, surrounding him, but he simply laughed, as Lucifer appeared on his shoulder.

"Come on ladies, let's dance," Dante said, doing a mock bow, before clapping his hands as if he were starting the tango.

One of the demons lunged at him, only to receive several swords in the face, as Dante darted around him and threw a few swords into a demon, before rapidly throwing so many at once that the demon quickly looked like a pin cushion. Grinning, Dante threw the rose from his mouth and all the swords exploded, resulting in the deaths of the two demons. Relaxing Lucifer and summoning Rebellion, Dante hefted the sword onto his shoulders and looked around at the remaining demons with a grin.

"Who's next?"

**_†††††††††††_**

"I think Nero is being used to power that thing," Celeste called.

She dropped to the ground to avoid the Saviour's kick, as Vergil helped her to her feet, striking a Dullahan in the chest with Yamato's sheath, then delivered a Beowulf uppercut that literally knocked the demon's head off its shoulders.

"I'm starting to think the same thing," Vergil said, "Which means, if we want to cut its power source, we have to free Nero."

"Yeah, good luck with that," Trish said, landing beside them, "We've shattered all the jewels, but it hasn't done much in terms of power reduction."

"Just made it look less shiny," Celeste said.

The Saviour loomed before them, energy gathering in its 'wings', as Asmodeus threw a ball of energy at them. The platform was destroyed by the explosion, as the trio quickly made their way to the next platform. The Saviour swept its hand at them, before flying back and firing the energy beam, disintegrating the platform and parts of the city that were in the energy's path. Celeste and Trish landed on another platform, while Vergil landed before Asmodeus on the Saviour's head.

"You know, you're lucky you've lasted this long against me," Asmodeus said, "In the future, you died pretty easily. But, you were also the second-last to die."

"Things are different now. And things are going to change around here."

"Yes, you are going to die long before your time."

"No, quite the opposite actually. You're going to die long before you even rise," Vergil said with a small smile.

The zweihander appeared in Asmodeus' hand and he slashed at Vergil's head, but the hybrid blocked the blow with Yamato's sheath, drawing the katana and slashing at Asmodeus' stomach. The demon was able to deflect the katana, as Vergil stepped back to avoid the follow through, slashing at Asmodeus' back, but his sword came over his shoulder to block the move and he grinned, before kicking Vergil in the chest, then slashed with the zweihander. Vergil blocked the large sword, teleporting to above Asmodeus and slashing at his face. The pair continued their sword duel atop the Saviour, which was currently lashing out at Celeste and Trish, as they leapt amongst the platforms, fighting back against it, while dealing with the demons that were appearing randomly to obstruct them, but to no avail.

Atop the Saviour, Asmodeus blocked Vergil's slash and pushed back, before throwing a ball of energy. It caught Vergil in the chest and knocked him off the Saviour, but he managed to push off its face, flying back through the air, as Yamato began glowing.

"If I want to stop this thing, then I gotta free its power source."

He flicked his wrist, firing off a blade of energy that sliced through the Saviour's shattered chest jewel and cutting deep within its core. Landing on a nearby platform, Vergil sheathed Yamato, as the core split open and Nero fell out, covered in purple ooze. Almost instantly, the 'wing's faded away from the Saviour.

"Nero! If you don't get your ass up, I'm gonna come in there and kick it," Vergil shouted.

Nero groggily flipped his brother the bird, not really knowing where he was, as his left arm fumbled around for the Red Queen. Meanwhile, Asmodeus was looking at the Saviour in horror, his plans slowly becoming unravelled. However, he knew he still had a chance to carry it out. Firing an energy blast at Vergil, Asmodeus turned the Saviour around and headed out to the ocean, as Vergil watched him go.

"Wonder what he's doing right now."

**_†††††††††††_**

_Dumary Island._

The Saviour reached the island, hovering over the cities as the civilians watched in horror, hoping that they would live through whatever it was that was happening. Once Asmodeus reached the site, he had the Saviour draw back its mighty fist and bring it crashing down. Buildings were obliterated by the blow, crumbling in the wake of the shockwave for nearly a mile away. Even Nero was dropped on his ass by the force of the punch, as a tower of flames appeared on the spot of the blow, the Saviour hovering back, as Asmodeus grinned. It was happening all over again.

"Arise, Abbadon!"

**_†††††††††††_**


	10. Kyrie in the Core

**_†††††††††††_**

With a feeling of déjà vu washing over him, Nero headed towards where he could feel the Saviour's power core. Heading deeper into the living statue, he came to a series of platforms. There were coloured circles on the ground, linked together in a ring, as a massive black die appeared, followed by a ghostly version of himself. Nero raised an eyebrow, as he moved cautiously towards the ghost version, looking around at the coloured circles, before looking up at the next platform and seeing that he wouldn't be able to access it. Drawing the Red Queen, Nero struck the die. A four appeared, as the ghostly Nero moved four circles and landed on the white circle, shooting forward into a white portal. Nero found himself teleported to the second platform, where there were now twelve circles before him. Another die appeared and Nero struck it again, as his ghost landed on a red circle. Several Scarecrows and a Mega Scarecrow appeared, as Nero growled in irritation, wanting to get to the top quickly.

"Let's make this quick, shall we?"

He grabbed a Scarecrow with his Devil Bringer and slammed it into the ground, before striking it with the Red Queen, then flicking it through the air, as two Scarecrows leapt at him. Nero rolled out of the way and attacked them with a series of moves, before jumping over another Scarecrow. He pulled the demon into the air and hacked it apart, before grabbing the Mega Scarecrow and throwing it into the ground. The Mega Scarecrow lashed out at him, firing off a few blades, which Nero deflected, before shooting forth the Diablo Bringer and grabbing hold of the Mega Scarecrow. Flames coated its body, as Nero slammed its face into the ground, ripping off one of its blades, then hurled the demon through the air, swiftly followed by its own blade.

With the demons dead, Nero turned back to the die, getting his ghostly form into the white portal and being transported to the next level, with sixteen circles and a group of Basilisks and Assaults awaiting him. Nero drew the Blue Rose and took aim.

"Bang!"

The demons growled and lunged at him. He shot down an Assault, before snatching up a Basilisk and firing its head missile at another Basilisk, then hurled the body aside. An Assault came leaping out of the ground from behind, as Nero rolled to his right, lunging forward with a Streak, then smacked a Basilisk into the air and jumping after it. Nero grabbed the Basilisk and fired its head at a couple of Assaults, then threw the body away, before landing and slicing open another Basilisk. Once the demons were dead, Nero turned to the die and struck up a six. The ghost landed on a yellow circle, getting transported to the white circle, then the white portal, as Nero was taken to the next and final level. After much rolling of the die and killing of several demons, Nero reached the end of the puzzle, taking the few stairs up to the secondary core of the Saviour, where he found Kyrie held within the core.

"Kyrie! Hang on, Kyrie, I'm gonna get you out of there."

"I don't think so."

Nero whirled around, as a ball of energy caught him in the chest, driving him into the far wall and he fell to his knees with a groan, as Asmodeus stepped into view.

"I will not have you meddle in my affairs. Not again."

Nero shot out his Diablo Bringer, but Asmodeus caught it by the wrist, before hurling Nero into the wall. He groaned, before whipping out the Blue Rose and firing off two rounds. Asmodeus dodged the bullets, then caught the light spear and threw it back. Nero dived out of the way as the spear impaled the wall, then let loose with a massive Diablo Bringer punch that struck Asmodeus in the chest when he started for the white-haired warrior. Slammed against the wall, Asmodeus pushed off, flying towards Nero, just as he Devil Triggered, the energy flux slamming Asmodeus against the ceiling. He landed on his feet, narrowly dodging the Red Queen and summoning his zweihander, before slashing at Nero's head. He blocked the move, letting loose with several curved phantom blades, impaling Asmodeus, then struck him with the Devil Bringer, punching him into the wall. Snarling, Asmodeus grabbed the Devil Bringer and hurled Nero through the air, before flicking his sword, firing off a blade of energy that struck Nero and sliced into his body.

"While I could kill you, that would waste too much energy and I need all that I have for the Underworld," Asmodeus said, "Maybe I should leave you for Abbadon."

"Sounds great," Nero said, "How about you give me Kyrie first before I head off to face certain doom?"

"Well, sure, why not?"

Nero grinned and headed towards Kyrie, but scored an energy blast in the chest.

"Well, you can have her, if you can get past me."

Still in his demon form, Nero lunged at Asmodeus, swinging the Red Queen, but Asmodeus blocked the blow and shoved Nero back, before catching him in the chest with an energy blast. Nero hit the wall and rolled away from the zweihander, before slashing towards Kyrie. Her bonds were severed by force of the swings, as Asmodeus stabbed Nero through the back, the exit wound appearing in his chest. Nero cried out, falling back to his human form, as Asmodeus turned him towards the wall.

"Do say hello to Abbadon for me, will you?"

Asmodeus kicked Nero off his sword and out of the Saviour via the forehead jewel. However, just as he was ejected, Nero sent forth his Devil Bringer, snatching hold of Kyrie and stealing her out of the Saviour with him, grinning and giving the Saviour the one finger salute upon hearing Asmodeus' howl of annoyance.

"Heh, sucker."

**_†††††††††††_**

"There is it," Vergil called, "There's the Saviour."

"And it's tearing up Dumary Island," Celeste noted, "What's that tower of fire?"

"No idea, but I'm betting it's not good."

The four devils stopped their flight and headed towards the streets of Dumary Island, resuming their human forms, as people ran screaming in terror. Buildings were collapsing around them, as the roads cracked and gave way to chasms in the ground. Demons were running around, enjoying the chaos and carnage, with several of them stopping short at the sight of Dante, Vergil, Celeste and Trish.

"Hi, boys," Trish grinned, aiming Luce, "Wanna play?"

At that moment, the flames died down and a shockwave swept the entire island, causing the ocean to rise up and swamp the cities. Everyone were dropped to the ground by the sudden earthquake, as red lines of energy spider-webbed throughout the island. Dante groaned, getting to his feet, a memory flashing through his mind and he had a feeling he knew what was coming next. Not long after the shockwave ebbed away, something moved from atop the Saviour and Dante looked up to see Nero falling through the air, whilst holding Kyrie in his arms. Dante grinned, knowing that his brother would eventually find a way out.

"What the hell just happened?" Vergil asked, "What has been released now?"

"Nero," Celeste replied, "He's free from the Saviour."

Vergil noticed that the Saviour had stopped moving and was simply hovering in the air. Then slowly, it came crashing down, crushing anything in its path, sending up a massive cloud of dust, as everyone ducked for cover from the massive weapon. Once it had finally landed and came to a rest, the dust soon died down and everyone picked themselves up in time to see Nero walking towards them with Kyrie in his arms.

"Nero, you finally made it," Vergil said, "Took your time too."

"Yeah, shut up. You try duelling one-on-one with Asmodeus. But I tell you what though, he may be strong, but he's not all that strong. I can fight him, with a bit of trouble, but I'm not getting overwhelmed."

"Yeah, well, I think it's because he lost a majority of his power when he followed the vision back through time," Dante said, "In the future, he had no problem taking us all on and win. Then again, he did have…Abbadon…on…his…side."

"Dante, are you okay?" Trish asked with concern in her voice.

The red-clad hunter turned to where the tower of flames had previously been and he remembered what had happened here in the future. What had rose here. The very instrument of their deaths had been brought forth at this very site."

"We're in major trouble," Dante said.

Asmodeus appeared before them, but he wasn't alone. A large demon was standing with him. Standing at nine feet tall, the demon's body was completely made out of brown-green rock, the skin underneath being a jet black colour. The demon was large and bulky, with small, white eyes and its lower face covered in a mask of stone. Its hand ended in two large claw-like fingers and a thumb, while its feet were formed into talons. But to complete the look, its entire body was covered in flames, constantly burning away on its body, as the demon let out a massive bellow.

"Say hello to Abbadon, the cause of your deaths," Asmodeus said with a smile.

"He doesn't look so tough," Nero said.

"Guess again, Nero," Dante said, "This guy took us all down without breaking a sweat. And we were stronger in that time too."

"Abbadon, kill them all," Asmodeus ordered.

**_†††††††††††_**


	11. Abbadon Pawns All

**_†††††††††††_**

"Seriously?" Vergil said, "I think we can take him. Rock and fire. Not very tough."

"Okay, I'll make a bet with you then," Dante said, "Fifty bucks."

"You're on."

Abbadon bellowed like a raging bull and began charging like one as well. Dante whipped out Ebony and Ivory, crossing his guns over, as Nero aimed the Blue Rose, Trish raised Luce and Ombra, Celeste brought out her handguns and Vergil summoned a protective shield of phantom swords. At once, they fired away, as Abbadon pounded across the destroyed road, bullets bouncing off his tough hide and the phantom swords shattering upon impact, but not doing any visible damage or even slowing him down, as a worried look overcame Dante's features.

"It's not killing him!" Nero shouted.

"We're gonna get so pawned," Dante said.

Vergil was sent flying back by the force of the blow to his chest, as Abbadon then backhanded Nero through a half-wrecked building. Dante ducked the fist swinging for his head, but Abbadon booted him in the chest and he was sent skidding along the road. Celeste fired with her handguns, but Abbadon landed an uppercut on her chin, knocking her into the air, then leapt up and with one punch, crashed her into the road and created a small crater. Trish charged Luce and Ombra up with her electrical energy, however, she didn't get a chance to fire them off, as Abbadon punched her in the jaw, knocking her to the ground, then kicked her through the air.

"Okay, ow," Dante said, "But I knew that was gonna happen anyway."

He pulled himself up off the ground, summoning Lucifer and creating a row of swords, before firing them at Abbadon. They stabbed in between the cracks in his rock-like hide, as Abbadon stalked towards Dante. He jumped back, throwing more swords, before finally throwing the rose. The swords exploded, but Abbadon still stalked towards him, before finally lunging and grabbing Dante by the face, then slamming him headfirst into the road, dragging him through the bitumen and throwing him through the air. Dante rolled to a stop, blood running from his split lip.

"That wasn't nice."

Abbadon growled and continued towards Dante, but a web of dimensional cuts appeared around the massive demon, before shattering as they attempted to slice into him. Growling, Abbadon turned around to face Vergil and drew back his head, then launched a fireball from his mask. It spiralled through the air and drove Vergil through the building he was standing in front of, as the building then came crashing down. Vergil teleported away from the crumbling structure, only to get clothes-lined by Abbadon, then get punched deeper into the ground.

"You know, I have a feeling we're getting major leagued owned," Nero grumbled, stumbling back out onto the street, "And I don't like it at all."

He placed the Red Queen's tip on the ground and revved up the blade, coating it in flames, as Abbadon spotted him and roared, before charging. Dante appeared in front of Nero, holding up Pandora as a rocket launcher and fired three rockets at once. They exploded upon Abbadon. The demon charged through the smoke and grabbed both Dante and Nero, before charging through the building, dragging them through the floor, then smashed out through the other side. Dante was slammed against an abandoned car and like the vehicle, was left there, as Nero was thrown into another building, as Abbadon roared, raising his hands, as the building exploded from the inside due to the sudden tower of flames that had appeared.

"Nero!" Dante cried.

He drew Rebellion and lunged at Abbadon, slicing at his head, but the blade simply stopped upon the demon's head. He growled, turning around to face Dante, who was still suspended in mid-air. Drawing back Rebellion, Dante let loose with a variety of mid-air slashes, finishing off with a Helm Breaker, but he was then struck to the ground. Groaning and seeing stars before his eyes, Dante slowly got to his feet, as Celeste and Trish descended before Abbadon.

"What are you guys doing?" Dante asked.

"Gonna teach this guy a lesson," Celeste said.

She raised her Dragon Blades, creating a hail of ice shards around Abbadon, freezing him inside a dome of ice. Flames flared up inside the dome, just as it was shattered and Abbadon roared in anger, lunging forth and punching Celeste in the face. As she stumbled back, dazed from the blow, Trish slashed with Alastor, lightning leaping off the blade, until Abbadon caught hold of the sword, then grabbed Trish by the throat and lifted her off the ground.

"Trish!" Dante shouted.

He drew Coyote-A and fired, but the shotgun blast didn't have any effect on the demon. However, there was a blur and Trish fell to the ground, coughing in air, as Abbadon glared at Vergil, before launching a fireball at him. Vergil smacked it aside with Yamato, as Abbadon's forearm slammed into his upper chest. Abbadon turned around and raised his foot, but Dante struck with a Stinger, making the demon stumble briefly, as he then charged energy up into Rebellion and released it with a mighty swing. The energy blade struck Abbadon, knocking him back, as Dante followed through with the Overdrive technique, firing off another two energy blades. Roaring, Abbadon charged through the energy blades and brought his fist upwards into Dante's chin, sending him flying into the air.

"You are really annoying me," Dante growled.

He drew Ebony and Ivory, firing away with his trademark handguns as he flew into the air. The bullets bounced off Abbadon's hide, as Dante then summoned Pandora and transformed it into the air tank, grinning as he sat inside it.

"Let's see how you handle this."

Dante fired off all twelve turrets. Abbadon simply stood there as the rockets rained down on him, destroying the surrounding area, however, when the dust cleared, Abbadon hadn't even flinched at all, still looking up at Dante.

"Oh, that's not good."

Abbadon bellowed and launched up from the ground, flying towards Dante. He panicked and performed a Skystar move at the last minute, but Abbadon was still able to twist around and breathe a fireball into Dante's back. He flew towards the ground, helped along by a blow to the back from Abbadon that sent him flying through a building roof like a missile, as the entire building collapsed upon Dante.

"Something that big shouldn't be that fast," Dante said beneath the rubble

Abbadon landed on the ground, as Nero came leaping in from behind, clashing the revved up Red Queen against the demon's neck. A little fazed by the non-flinching, Nero drew back the Red Queen and struck again, followed by a series of rapid and powerful slashes, all which bounced off Abbadon's hide, as the demon turned around and glared at Nero, delivering him a powerful backhand that sent the young warrior skidding along the road. He came to a stop and simply laid there, but had to roll out of the way quickly when Abbadon came flying down.

"What is it going to take to kill this guy?" Nero demanded.

Abbadon roared, as several phantom swords struck him from behind. At the same time, a gold lightning bolt and a beam of ice shards struck Abbadon. He roared, as a ring of flames burst up around him, before spreading out in every direction, destroying everything in its path. Trish and Celeste had to leap out of the way, as Vergil teleported back several metres, as Abbadon kept expanding the ring of fire. However, a light spear slammed into his chest, stopping the expansion and Abbadon looked down at the spear, then wrenched it out of his chest, before hurling it into Nero's right thigh. He cried out, falling to the ground, as Abbadon charged at him.

Vergil appeared in front of Nero, slashing with Yamato and striking Abbadon with the Judgement Cut, but the demon ignored the move, ploughing through it and shoulder-charging Vergil, before kicking Nero in the stomach. The pair flew through the air, as Trish landed, creating a circle of energy, then launching off several balls of electricity from the circle. Abbadon belted the electric balls aside, as Trish flew back, firing off lightning bolts from her hands, then threw Alastor. The lightning sword flew around Abbadon, but the demon knocked the sword aside and raised its hand. Trish had to leap out of the way of pillar of flames that suddenly burst up from the ground, but that had been a mistake, as Abbadon leapt up after her and punched her to the ground. Landing, Abbadon was about to go after Trish again, but Celeste leapt over him, slashing with her Dragon Blades, before creating a hurricane of wind and directing it towards Abbadon. He growled as the flames were blown out on his body, as road and building debris was picked up and thrown around, while Abbadon was struggling to hold his place. Celeste increased the power of the wind, tearing up the destroyed landscape, before adding more power and finally blasting Abbadon off his feet, hurling him down the road and into a building, obliterating it. Celeste sighed, falling to her knees, as Trish knelt beside Nero, before swiftly tearing the spear from his leg, ignoring his cry of pain.

"Man, this guy…he's unstoppable," Celeste said.

"And that wind technique didn't slow him down at all," Trish said.

Celeste looked up to see Abbadon walking towards them, as flames burst out on his body once again. However, at that moment, there was a sudden explosion, as Dante stepped out of the rubble in his Devil Trigger, joining his equally transformed twin.

"Alright, Abbadon," Dante said, "Let's dance."

**_†††††††††††_**


	12. Major Leagued Owned

**_†††††††††††_**

"This is just too good," Asmodeus grinned from atop a nearby building, watching the entire fight unfold, "I never thought I would ever see this happening again, but I'm glad that I can."

He grinned, prepared to watch the fight happen until the very end, knowing that Sparda's children didn't stand a single chance against Abbadon. He could handle waiting until Abbadon had finished with them and was ready to serve again. In the future, Asmodeus had gained the full power of the Demon King, but he didn't get a chance to use his new powers against the world. He only had time to demolish Dante and the rest of his family before being pulled back through time to this place, where he would have to start all over again. But he was fine with that. It wouldn't be long before he regained his power and then finally rule the world as his own.

**_†††††††††††_**

Abbadon frowned at the sight of the transformed Dante and Vergil, as Nero painfully got to his feet, entering his own Devil Trigger state, which instantly healed his leg wound, as Celeste also transformed, while Trish simply created a glowing gold aura around herself, enhancing her strength, speed and durability.

"Well then, shall we get this show on the road?" Dante asked.

He spread his wings and flew at Abbadon, blasting him with hails of bullets, then leapt over him and slashed with Rebellion. Abbadon blocked with his forearm, as Dante started off his Dance Macabre combination, as Vergil came flying in from behind, slicing Abbadon across the back of the neck, as Dante finished off the Dance Macabre by swinging Rebellion like a baseball, finally knocking Abbadon off his feet. As the demon flew back, Vergil landed and performed the Judgement Cut, creating a series of dimensional slashes. Flames erupted in the distance, as Abbadon came flying back at them, looking like a raging bull who had seen red.

"This is gonna hurt," Dante muttered.

Abbadon cracked Dante in the jaw with an uppercut, then grabbed Vergil by the face and slammed him into the ground. Vergil fired off a few phantom swords, but Abbadon pushed him deeper and deeper into the ground. Nero slashed with the Red Queen, before striking with the Dark Bringer. Abbadon let go of Vergil and grabbed the Dark Bringer around the wrist, as Nero drew a charged-up Blue Rose and shot the demon in the face. He snarled, grabbing Nero by the throat and slamming his face into his knee. Nero reeled back from the blow, as Abbadon then kicked him in the chest, throwing him back into his twin and taking them both down. Trish flew in the air, letting loose with large gold beams of electrical energy, slamming into Abbadon and forcing him back, as the demon growled and breathed a stream of flames at the gold-haired demon. She twisted in mid-air to avoid the flames, swinging Alastor against Abbadon's face, but the demon ignored the blow, grabbing Trish in a bear-hug. She cried out as he started to crush her body against his, however, a massive three-bladed glaive slashed Abbadon across the back, causing him to let Trish go and look around, as Dante caught Pandora and transformed it into the laser cannon.

"Here, eat this!"

Dante fired the cannon, as Trish flew away from Abbadon, who was struck by the large laser beam. Roaring, Abbadon flew down at Dante, as Nero, Celeste and Vergil joined his side, gathering energy into their weapons as Abbadon fell upon them. There was a massive explosion of energy, forcing even Asmodeus to cover his eyes from the blinding light. When the light faded away, he turned back to the battle, seeing a massive crater in the ground, where the unconscious and human forms of Sparda's children were laying. Abbadon was standing in the centre of the crater, unfazed by the attack, while Trish was hovering nearby. Abbadon turned to her and got ready to charge, but Asmodeus landed before him and stopped his attack.

"That'll do, Abbadon. You've had your fun. Now we have work to do."

Asmodeus grinned as he faced Trish, who descended to the ground, as the aura faded.

"Well, it was a pleasure watching you get thrashed, but we have more important things to do. If you choose to chase us, I promise you that you will die. Good day."

Smirking, Asmodeus turned and walked away, as Abbadon followed after him. Trish waited until the pair had disappeared from sight, before heading to the crater and to her husband's side, checking his neck for a pulse and sighing when she felt one. Sensing a presence, she looked up to see Kyrie peer into the crater with a horrified look on her face, before sliding down into the crater and kneeling beside Nero.

"What happened here?" she asked, cradling Nero in her arms.

"We got seriously thrashed," Trish replied, "I don't know how we all managed to survive, but we did. Now we somehow have to get these guys home."

"What about the demons?"

"Another time. We're in no condition to keep fighting them."

**_†††††††††††_**

_Mallet Island._

"Ah, here we are," Asmodeus said, "Mallet Island. Or at least, what's left of it."

He descended towards the destroyed island, which had been continuously sinking into decay since Dante had defeated Mundus and escaped the crumbling island with Trish. Abbadon landed beside Asmodeus, as several Marionettes staggered into view. Abbadon raised his hand and the Marionettes were instantly incinerated, their ashes crumbling to the ground in small piles, as Asmodeus and Abbadon set off into the ruins of the castle, any remaining demons cowering from their presence and allowing the two to traipse throughout the ruins without challenge.

**_†††††††††††_**

"Ow! Why does my head hurt!" Dante cried.

"Because you had it dragged through the road several times," Trish replied.

She was sitting on the end of the bed, arms crossed over her chest, while Dante was sitting up in bed, bandages wrapped around his chest, arms and head, his posture mimicking his wife's, while he had an irritable look on his face.

"Don't worry, your siblings fared just as bad as you did."

"When I get my hands on Abbadon, he's gonna regret it. Well, that is if I can kill him. Cause this is the same guy who was able to annihilate us with ease."

"So, this whole 'visions sent back in time' thing really is true," Trish said, although it was more like a statement than a question.

"Yeah and it hasn't been fun seeing what's going to happen for the next thirty years, but the upside to it is that I have a chance to stop certain things from happening. Well, once I deal with Asmodeus and his punch-happy hench-rock."

"Asmodeus warned me that if we follow him, he'll kill us," Trish said

"Meh, like I'm worried about that? We can take him down, Trish. Why else would the future me send his memories back through time to me?"

"I hope you're right, Dante."

Dante grinned cockily, "Babe, I'm always right."

Trish simply rolled her eyes and got up from the bed, but Dante grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her into his lap, grinning at her with a suggestive wiggle of his eyebrows. Trish rolled her eyes again and went to get up, but Dante pulled her down onto him again and planted his lips against hers.

"Stay with me," he said, looking at his wife with puppy-dog eyes.

"You're injured and the twins-"

"Are sleep and I'm fine, just all wrapped up. Maybe you could unwrap me?"

Trish smiled and shook her head in amusement, before leaning in and kissing Dante, pressing her body up against his, as he pulled her close to him, melting into their kiss and passion as they soon joined their bodies together as one.

**_†††††††††††_**

"We're here," Asmodeus said, "Abbadon, do your thing."

The hulkering demon walked up to the point and roared, flames erupting on his body, as he slammed his wrists against thin air. Except that the 'thin air' began to ripple and expand, as Abbadon struck it again and again. Finally, the barrier was broken and a portal opened up, revealing a hellish dimension inside.

"Finally, progress," Asmodeus grinned, "Come, Abbadon, my time is at hand."

He stepped through the portal, followed by Abbadon, as the portal closed up behind the pair as they descended into the hell dimension.

**_†††††††††††_**


	13. Sparda is Reborn

**_†††††††††††_**

Dante slowly opened his eyes and untangled himself from his wife, before sitting up in bed and slowly stretching. His wounds had healed overnight and the bandages were scattered around the room, as he pulled his leather pants on and left the room, heading to the nursery to check up on his children, seeing that they were still fast asleep. He sighed, the memories of only Jenny growing up flashing through his mind. If he survived this fight, he would make sure that Jester won't kidnap Tristan and that he would get to raise his own son.

However, Dante knew that for it to happen, he would have to defeat Asmodeus first and seeing as how Abbadon has also risen, that task had now gone from difficult to near impossible. Abbadon had been the main one involved in the killings, demolishing everyone with his unstoppable strength and power. Not even the Sparda sword had been enough to defeat Abbadon. However…it might be able to defeat Asmodeus, given at how he had lost his power through time travel.

"_Now there's an idea."_

Leaving the nursery, Dante headed downstairs to the office, picking up the phone and dialling a familiar number, flopping into his seat as he waited.

"Hello?" came Lady's voice on the phone.

"Hey, Lady, how's the pregnant life?" Dante asked, before continuing on swiftly, "Look, is Vergil there?"

"Yeah, he's here. Moody as usual."

"And I heard you were the moody one. Quite a bitch too, if I heard correctly."

He grinned, almost hearing the anger boiling inside Lady. A moment later, he heard her put the phone down and a minute later, he could hear her yelling at Vergil in the background, a smirk on his face. A minute later, his brother picked up the phone.

"Ass."

"Yeah, love you too, bro. Listen, bring the Force Edge and your half of the amulet around, alright?"

"Okay and when?"

"How about now? Save you from getting killed by Lady. You know pregnant woman and their hormones. Trust me, I survived it."

"Hmm, well, I guess I can bring it around. Planning to make Sparda, huh?"

"Yep. I think it's the only chance we have against Abbadon. I just hope it works, cause in the future, it didn't."

"I'll be around soon…once I can avoid Lady and get dressed."

"Have fun with that."

The brothers hung up, as Dante leaned back in his chair and whistled to himself.

**_†††††††††††_**

Abbadon roared and smashed apart the final barrier, as Asmodeus stepped forward into the massive white-washed hall. He gazed about at the huge pillars, most of which were heavily cracked, while a few had actually toppled over. A grin came to the demon's face when he saw the large throne on the opposite side of the hall and he slowed his pace, wanting to savour this. In the future, he had succeeded in his plan, but didn't get to exercise his newfound powers over the world. Here and now, he had that chance, as he soon reached the monolithic throne.

"I can almost taste it, Abbadon," Asmodeus smiled, "The power of Mundus. It's right here, right before us. And the good thing is, I know how to claim it for myself."

Abbadon simply stood to the side like a silent henchman, as Asmodeus unclipped his cape, then removed his torso armour, along with his greaves, placing them aside in a neat pile. Leaping up to the throne's seat, Asmodeus drew a small knife and ran a cut diagonally down the centre his chest, flicking the throne with his blood.

"Now, let the ritual begin."

**_†††††††††††_**

Dante and Trish were playing with Tristan and Jenny, when the bell dinged and Vergil walked into the store, followed by Lady. Dante looked up at his brother, seeing that he had indeed brought the Force Edge and a small grin came to his face.

"Alright. Time to do this."

Vergil removed his half of the amulet and handed it, along with the Force Edge, to Dante, as he merged the two halves together, creating the Perfect Amulet. At once, the Perfect Amulet and the Force Edge began humming in close proximity to each other and slowly, Dante brought the two items together, until there was a flash of light and the Sparda sword appeared in his hands.

"This should hopefully do the trick," Dante said.

"Yes, but the question is, where did Asmodeus go?" Vergil asked, "We have no way of knowing where he went."

"Well, I kinda do. Before we fought him in the future, he obtained the power of Mundus or more specifically, the power his title held, becoming the Demon King," Dante said, "Which means, he probably used Mundus' throne, placing him at Mallet Island. Well, that's my educated guess."

"So it'll be Mallet Island we go," Trish said.

"We?" Dante cried, "No, not you. Just me, Verge, Nero and Celeste. You're not going, Trish."

"Dante, I dare you to try and stop me. You need all the help you can get. Well, except from Lady, cause she's pregnant and all."

"Standing right here," Lady muttered.

"Point is," Trish continued, "You need help, I'm coming with and there's nothing you can say or do about it. So deal."

She headed upstairs to get changed, as Dante watched her go with an impressed look on his face, while Vergil was trying hard not to laugh at his twin.

"Knew there's a reason I married that girl," Dante said.

**_†††††††††††_**

"The time is at hand," Asmodeus grinned, "Let us begin!"

A flash of bright light engulfed the demon, spreading out from his position on the throne, as chasms split open in the ground, the entire hall shaking as several pillars cracked and collapsed to the ground. Abbadon stood out of the way of the falling debris, watching as his master disappeared amongst the light, cackling madly as his body was flooded with power once again.

The destroyed island began shaking due to the massive surge of power being released, as the white light broke through the barriers and spread over the entire island, hovering around for several minutes, before fading away. Once it did, it revealed the island restored to its former glory, before Mundus had been defeated by Dante. Everything was back in pristine condition, as the light faded away completely, leaving Asmodeus standing on the throne, his body glowing faintly as he took in several deep breaths, enjoying the buzz that had come with the aftermath of the ritual.

Dark clouds swarmed in the sky overhead, as a large whirlpool opened up in the ocean near the island, before fading away, then reappearing around the coast. portals began opening up all over the island, dispelling a wide variety of demons to protect the island, as Asmodeus sat down on the throne, zweihander in hand.

"And now, we wait for them to arrive."

**_†††††††††††_**

"Alright, guys, we're going to Mallet Island," Dante said, "Although, for three of us, we're going _back_ to Mallet Island. Should be fun."

"So, we're gonna fly over there?" Nero asked.

"Yep. But not in the way you'd think."

"Huh?"

"We're taking a helicopter, free of charge, from our friends at the B.S.A.A."

"Apparently, strange readings have suddenly appeared around Mallet Island," Vergil said, "And according to satellite, the island has been reformed."

"And the fun part? Abbadon. That walking block-head is gonna cause a problem or three, hence why we're taking a copter there."

"How about we just get going?" Trish asked, hands on hips.

Dante nodded and with his wife, sister and brothers, left the shop, leaving Lady with the twins, before driving over to the airport, where a helicopter was waiting to take them to Mallet Island. As they flew away from the city and headed out over the ocean, Dante looked back in the direction of his home, hoping that he would survive.

**_†††††††††††_**


	14. Mallet Island

**_†††††††††††_**

"Hey, we're reaching Mallet Island," the helicopter pilot called into the cargo hold.

"Good," Vergil said.

Dante checked over Ebony, Ivory and Coyote-A, as Nero flexed his demonic fingers, Trish was looking over her handguns and Celeste was spinning one of the Dragon Blades around her fingers in a moment of boredom, while Vergil himself simply had his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes closed, as he waited for the landing.

"Looks like there's a storm coming," the pilot called.

"You don't say," Dante said, thinking about the upcoming battle.

"No, he's talking about that storm," Celeste said.

Dante looked out through the cockpit, seeing angry grey clouds forming above Mallet Island, as lightning cracked throughout the skies and the ocean was being whipped up against the island shores by the force of the wind.

"Well, looks like we're in for a bumpy ride."

The helicopter inched closer to the restored island, as the force of the wind started to get too much for the aircraft, knocking it about in the air, as the pilot fought to stabilise the aircraft and reach the island in one piece. Dante opened the cargo hold, staring out at the ocean, which was beginning to darken like the skies and he had a feeling that he saw something large move beneath the surface.

"We're gonna have company."

The ocean suddenly exploded, as something massive came lunging for the helicopter like a rushing train. The large mouth opened, revealing rows upon rows of shark-like teeth, which now clamped down on the helicopter's tail, easily ripping it off, before the beast disappeared back into the ocean's depths again. The helicopter began spinning out of control, lights flashing and sirens blaring, the wrecked aircraft spiralling towards a crash landing on the island shores.

"Geronimo!" Dante shouted.

He leapt out of the falling helicopter, landing on the shorelines, as Vergil and Nero landed beside him. Trish and Celeste landed before the boys, the pilot hanging between them, as the helicopter smashed into the island and exploded, the flames illuminating the skies and giving the girls a haunting and dark look.

"You forgot the pilot," Trish said.

"You got him, so all good," Dante said, "Can we start the party now?"

"I'm thinking we should split up," Vergil said, "Attack from different directions."

"I was gonna suggest that anyway, cause I wanna fight that thing in the water."

Dante turned around with a smile, crossing his arms over his chest as he faced the ocean, watching as a massive sea serpent-like creature with slick green-blue skin and spines running down its back rose up above the ocean's surface.

"Hi-ya!" Dante shouted, "Name's Dante. What's yours?"

**"****I am Nicor, the demon of water, hurricanes and tempests."**

"Well, you sound like a swell guy I wanna have drinks with, but as it is, you ate half my helicopter, which means we have to thrown down."

As Dante spoke to Nicor, the others were currently spreading out over the island, searching for different ways to infiltrate the castle and attack Asmodeus from different sides. The pilot, meanwhile, had gone to hid behind several large rocks while this was going on, preferring to stay out of sight until it was over.

**"****You're a fool to challenge me, Dante. I'll crush you!"**

"Words mean nothing unless you follow through with your actions. Can you follow through?" Dante asked, resting Rebellion on his shoulders.

Nicor roared in annoyance, shaking the island with the force of his roar, the ocean washing over the shorelines and wind blasting through the air, blowing through Dante's coat, but he simply stood there with an amused look on his face.

"Come on, Nessie. Show me what you're really made of."

Nicor roared and dived down for Dante, opening his jaws wide, but Dante leapt out of the way, shooting off into the air and shooting with his handguns. However, to his mild surprise, the bullets bounced off the demon's skin like it was made of rubber. Even the dents left behind by the bullets quickly smoothed over. Nicor chuckled, but Dante simply shrugged his shoulders, summoning Pandora.

"We'll just have to try something with a little more oomph!"

Landing on the shoreline, Dante transformed Pandora into the gatling gun, firing off a hail of bullets. Nicor reeled back, roaring in anger, as Dante then opened up the laser cannon and fired. Nicor fell back into the ocean with a mighty splash. Dante folded Pandora back up into the briefcase and slung it over his shoulder, waiting. He wasn't disappointed, as a moment later, Nicor breeched the ocean surface once again.

**"****Foolish insect. You think that was enough to defeat me?"**

"No, but don't worry, I'm just getting started," Dante said.

He transformed Pandora into a large bladed glaive and threw it. The glaive sliced through the air, returning to Dante's hand and folding back up into the briefcase, as Dante did a nod of approval at the bloodied slash in Nicor's neck. Nicor snarled and let out a roar, as the ocean crashed onto the shoreline and a massive warship suddenly rose up from the ocean depths, glowing against the dark horizon, its tattered sails blowing in the breeze as it turned its portside towards Dante.

"The Flying freaking Dutchman?" the hybrid laughed, "You're kidding me."

**"****Captained by the demon Focalor. You'll find a match in him."**

"Yeah, no kidding, because you're no match for me."

Nicor roared and his tail burst out of the ocean, slapping towards Dante. He leapt into the air, before jumping off Nicor's head, shooting with the Coyote-A as he did, twisting around in the air and landing on the decks of the warship. At once, several demonic pirates raced up towards Dante, swinging their swords, but Dante hacked and slashed his way through the pirates, reaching the deck as a large demon appeared. He had wet, rough dark brown skin and was dressed in the traditional pirate captain's clothing, a massive serrated hook hanging over his right fist as he stared at Dante with a look akin to annoyance, his fangs exposed through his thick dark beard.

"You must be the demon hunter Dante that Asmodeus told me about," the demon growled, "A pleasure to meet you. I am Focalor, captain of this mighty vessel."

"Which means you're drinking buddies with Nessie here," Dante said.

Nicor, swimming nearby, growled in annoyance at Dante's mocking of his name.

"Yes, I suppose that's true," Focalor said, "Together, we are the most destructive force out here in the ocean. Not even Mother Nature can compare to us."

"Alright, how about we test that theory?" Dante said.

"Don't mind if we do."

Focalor reached into his coat, before drawing an 19th century double-barrelled pistol and firing at Dante. He cocked his head to the side, as the bullets sailed past harmlessly. Grinning, Dante leapt up at Focalor, but scored two bullets in the chest, hitting the desk, as Focalor leapt over the rails, his hook drawn back. Dante raised Rebellion, blocking the blow, then swung his foot upwards, booting Focalor aside. He got to his feet, before leaping out of the Nicor's mouth. The giant demon twisted away from the ship and disappeared beneath the dark ocean surface. Focalor leapt across the deck, swinging his hook, as Dante blocked and shoved him back, then struck with a Stinger. Focalor rolled back onto his feet, spinning around Dante and slashing him across the back, then kicking him against the mast. Dante rolled out of the way as Focalor's hook smashed through the mast, severing it in half.

Turning around, Dante ducked the hook and sliced upwards, but Focalor blocked and raised his pistol. Deflecting the bullets with Rebellion, Dante then summoned Lucifer and quickly let loose with several swords. Focalor growled as the swords impaled his body, but he lunged at Dante, swinging his hook, only for Dante to grab the hook and sling him to the ground, then hammer his back with multiple swords, following up by kicking the demon into the air and throwing more swords into his body, before finally throwing the rose. The swords exploded, dropping Focalor on the deck.

"Ugh! You are a great combatant," Focalor growled.

"Oh please stop. You're making me blush," Dante smirked.

"You may have beaten me here, but you still have him to deal with."

Dante looked out to where Focalor was pointing, as Nicor breached the surface and growled menacingly. The hybrid rolled his eyes and let out a snort of laughter.

"Oh yeah, cause he's _so_ tough!"

Focalor collapsed against the deck, as Dante faced Nicor. A gale sprung up suddenly, pushing the warship along the ocean, as Nicor lunged. Dante leapt up, striking with Rebellion, pushing off and flipping over, shooting with Ebony and Ivory. Nicor snarled, twisting his massive body to reach up to Dante, who did a Skystar to his right, firing Lucifer swords into the demon's body as he rushed past. Nicor twisted back around and dived towards Dante. He exploded the swords, but Nicor still struck him, taking him beneath the dark ocean surface and into the depths below. The giant demon opened his mouth to swallow Dante whole, but the hybrid pushed away from him, sinking deeper into the ocean and curled up into a ball, before releasing his demon powers, transforming into his Devil Trigger state, the explosion of energy forcing Nicor onto a different course, heading towards the surface, breaking through it, as Dante flew up out of the sea before him.

"Now let's finish this."

**_†††††††††††_**


	15. The Warlord Berith

**_†††††††††††_**

"Some things never change," Vergil muttered.

His right hand hung loosely around Yamato's hilt, as several Marionettes staggered towards him. After waiting for a few moments, Vergil sprung into action, Yamato slicing through the air, before retracting back into the sheath and sliding to a click. The Marionettes collapsed into splinters, as Vergil smiled to himself. Suddenly, he heard the sounds of a horse galloping and whirled around, just as an axe blade slammed into his chest, hurling him through the air.

Vergil hit the ground, groaning in pain as blood leaked from the wound. Already, his body was repairing the injury, as the horse rider turned around and waited for the hybrid to get to his feet. Vergil turned around to face the new attacker, seeing a demon clad fully from head to toe in white-lined, blood red armour, sitting astride a red horse dressed in war armour, which covered its face and shins, its eyes glowing supernaturally red. Vergil's eyes caught hold of the weapon that had struck him, seeing it was a long-handle axe with a gleaming blood-red blade and a sharpened point at the other end. His blood was currently dripping off the blade's tip.

"So, care to tell me who you are?" Vergil growled.

"I am the warlord Berith, ruler of twenty-six legions," the demon growled.

"Right, Berith. Name sounds familiar. Can't quite put my finger on it."

The demon bristled, "I am a feared and mighty warlord. I have conquered many nations and I crush my opponents like they are insignificant bugs!"

"Yes, I'm really quaking in fear over here."

"You shall die by my blade."

Berith kicked his heels into the horse's sides, as it reared up onto its hind legs, before charging at Vergil. The hybrid simply stood there, waiting with a smile, before leaping up and spinning around upside-down, then landing on his feet. The horse came to a stop, as Berith turned it around, a large split appearing in his armour.

"Darn you! You will pay for that!" Berith snarled.

"Do you want it in cash, cheque or your own blood?" Vergil smirked, "I know which one I'm choosing."

"Not today."

Berith raised his axe into the air, as a large black portal opened up. A large demon landed on the ground, as wide as Vergil was tail, with thick dark brown skin, stubby legs and wide arms, a brass shield on one arm and a very large and very sharp iron sword in the other, light armour covering its chest, shins and forearms, while a gladiator-style helmet covered its face. Vergil simply rolled his eyes.

"A Gladiator demon? Oh, how very fear-provoking."

The portal opened and several more Gladiators came pouring out, landing neatly in perfect formation, spreading out in squadrons, until soon, there were six squadrons of twenty demons each standing ready for commands. Vergil slid into a defensive position, as Berith lowered his axe, closing up the portal.

"Now, scum of Sparda, it is time for you to die," the warlord said.

"Oh, I wouldn't bet on that."

**_†††††††††††_**

"It has been a long time since I was here and it still gives me the creeps," Trish muttered, "God I hate this place so much."

"God has no place in this realm of darkness," replied a scratchy and regal voice.

Trish whirled around, her handguns raised and aiming at the newcomer. His long greasy dark hair was slicked down over his shoulders, the collar of his coat reaching up around his pale, sunken cheekbones. His coat covered his entire body, reaching down to his boots, while his hands were covered in thick black leather gloves, as he stroked his pointy chin, staring at Trish with glowing yellow eyes.

"And who the hell are you?" Trish demanded, crossing her guns over.

"I am Leonard," the demon replied, "Master of black magic and sorcery."

"Ooh, scary. Wanna see what I can do."

"You won't get a chance to show me."

Leonard raised his right hand, as a purple ball of fire appeared in his palm and he smiled sinisterly at Trish, before hurling the fireball. She dived out of the way, as a second fireball slammed into her chest and drove her along the corridor. As she flew back, Trish fired with her handguns, but Leonard raised a shield of dark blue energy, absorbing the bullets, as the shield enveloped him and he disappeared. Trish slid back on her feet, coming to a stop, wondering where he had gone, when his fist came out of nowhere, connecting with her jaw and slamming her against the wall.

"Well, that was easy," Leonard muttered.

Trish raised her hands, firing two bolts of lightning that slammed into Leonard's chest and drove him back. Rolling back onto her feet, Trish drew Sparda and whirled around, slashing at his head, but Leonard blocked the blow with his right fist, which was covered in dark blue flame-like energy. Opening his other hand, Leonard created another purple fireball and drew his hand back, but Trish kicked him in the stomach, before slashing again. Leonard blocked and threw the fireball, blasting Trish through the wall and sending her into the hanger.

Leonard floated down, aided by his magic, as Trish got to her feet, creating a circle of energy, then held her hand to the circle, rapidly firing off balls of electricity. Leonard covered his hands in red energy, belting the electric balls aside, as they began rebounding off the walls and ceiling, bouncing around the entire hanger. As Leonard leapt about to avoid them, Trish flew in, kicking him in the face, then whirled around and slashed with Sparda. Blood splattered the floor, as Leonard threw a purple fireball, but Trish dodged it and sliced upwards, leaping up after the sorcerer and blasting him with bolts of lightning. Subject to several lightning bolt blasts, Leonard managed to throw another fireball, knocking Trish away and stopping the blasts.

"Well, you impress me, dear lady," Leonard said, "Tell me, what is your name."

"It's Trish and sorry, but I'm already taken."

"Such a shame."

_**†††††††††††**_

The Assault squealed one last time and lay still, its body melting away like the rest of its brethren, as Nero sheathed the Red Queen and moved on. After splitting up from the rest of the group, Nero had gone to the southern part of the idea, hoping to infiltrate from there. However, it seemed he had chosen the most demon-infested area to walk through, coming across a group of different demons every two minutes.

"Just my luck. I get the place with the most demons. I bet all the others are having a good walk through the park."

He continued grumbling to himself as he rounded a corner and fell to the ground. Groaning, he rubbed his head, looking up at what he had walked into.

"Well, how on earth did I not see you?"

The hulking demon snarled, its lower jaw jutting over its upper jaw, showing off the large two tusks, its sick-green scaly hide glowing in the lights of the corridor, its thick tail thumping against the floor, as it glared at Nero with its beady gold eyes.

"Well, if you'll excuse me, I need to carry on," Nero said.

He sidestepped the demon, but its heavy paw landed on his left shoulder. Whirling around swiftly, Nero punched with his Devil Bringer, knocking the demon away, then drew the Red Queen and lunged, bringing his sword down. The demon dived out of the way, surprising Nero with its agility, despite its large size, as the demon's tail then wrapped around Nero's leg and threw him into the wall.

"Not happy, Jan."

Pushing off the wall, Nero whirled around, slashing with the Red Queen, slicing the scaly demon across the upper arm, then lashed out with the Devil Bringer, but the demon caught the wrist and threw Nero into the air, before doing a small hop and letting out a massive roar that blasted Nero down the corridor. Sliding to a stop, Nero got to his feet, seeing the demon charging towards him like an angry rhino. Placing the Red Queen's tip on the ground, Nero revved up the handle, coating the blade in flames, before charging towards the demon. Just as he was about to slash, the demon tossed its head, catching Nero in the chest and throwing him through the air. Nero landed heavily on his back, the Red Queen clattering from his hand, as the demon turned around and charged again.

"Alright, let's have another go at this."

Getting to his feet, Nero picked up the Red Queen and waited until the demon was nearly upon him, before launching himself upwards, spinning through the air, as the Red Queen sliced through the demon, flames rolling through the air. The demon was lifted up into the air, as Nero righted himself, then sprung forward in mid-air, using the last of the Exceed to slice through the demon. He landed, as the demon fell apart in half, landing behind him, before melting away.

"And that's how you do it," Nero said.

He sheathed the Red Queen and turned around, before barely suppressing a groan. Three Basilisks were waiting for him at the end of the corridor, with a Soul-Eater hovering above the trio.

"Okay, here we go."

**_†††††††††††_**


	16. Leonard, the Sorcerer

**_†††††††††††_**

Vergil blocked, parried, sliced and slashed his way through the Gladiators, as they came pouring in from all sides, hacking and cutting away at the hybrid. He deflected a sword and slit the owner's throat, before spinning around and slashing, but the Gladiator blocked with its shield, as a second Gladiator slashed at Vergil. He blocked with Yamato's sheath, then flipped over the demon, slicing it in half, before flicking Yamato, demon blood flying off the blade. The remaining Gladiators lunged at Vergil, their swords flashing through the air, as he crouched, raising Yamato up to block all the swords, then pushed up, shoving all the Gladiators back and sheathing Yamato, which began glowing purple. Quick as a flash, Vergil spun around nearly three-sixty degrees, Yamato glittering in the fading sun as purple energy streaked through the air. Slowly, Vergil sheathed Yamato and when it clicked into place, all the Gladiators fell down dead. Vergil smirked, straightening as he spiked his hair up, which had fallen over his forehead during the battle, making him look exactly like his twin.

"I'm impressed, Vergil," Berith called, still astride his horse, "I didn't think you would last against them. It seems I was wrong."

"Why won't you come over here and see if you can finish me off?" Vergil asked, "I imagine I would have gotten quite weak and tired from fighting them all."

"Well, don't mind if I do."

Berith hopped off his horse, spinning the axe around in front of him as he strode towards Vergil. The hybrid shed his coat, tossing it aside to allow him better mobility, as Berith growled and spun around fully, slashing wide. He was a very fast warrior, quick on his feet and highly skilled in armed combat. The hybrid was already on the defensive against the warlord, trying to find an opening to exploit, but due to Berith's speed, he barely had a chance to find one. The warlord kept forcing the hybrid to move backwards and constantly be on the defensive. Vergil knew he had to go offensive soon, however he was going to end up badly injured.

Vergil slid along his feet, knocked back by the forceful blow, as Berith spun the axe around and brought it down overhead. Yamato took the brunt of the strike, as Berith kicked Vergil in the stomach, before slashing again. Vergil barely managed to avoid the swing, before tapping into his demonic blood. His eyes turned red as he Devil Triggered, easily catching Berith's axe with Yamato, before shoving the axe upwards, then spinning around and slashing. Berith staggered back, a gash in his armour, looking up as Vergil summoned the Phantom Cannon and fired. The ball of lava slammed into Berith, catapulting him through the air, as Vergil appeared behind him with Beowulf equipped, kicking him into the sky.

As Berith flew into the air from the kick, Vergil leapt after him, teleporting to above the warlord and clasping his hands together, then slamming them down upon Berith's chest, sending him hurtling towards the ground. Vergil flew down, planting a second kick on the warlord, smashing him into the ground and leapt away, sliding back with Yamato, as a large orb of energy appeared around Berith, just as he groggily got up. Vergil drew Yamato quickly, as a vortex of dimensional slashes appeared inside the orb, spinning around rapidly and slicing into the warlord, his cries muffled by the orb. Finally, to finish it off, Vergil dashed forward at high speeds, reappearing on the opposite side of the orb as it disappeared. Berith swayed on his feet, as Vergil slowly slid his trademark weapon into its sheath and when it clicked home, Berith fell to the ground, blood pooling around his body, as Vergil resumed his human form.

"You are…excellent…better than me," Berith gasped, "I…relinquish my…weapon to you…take it…and wield it well."

The warlord held up his long-handled axe, as Vergil accepted the weapon, watching as the demon dying before him faded away into multiple balls of lights, before completing dispersing. Vergil only stared at the weapon, before slicing it through the air in a variety of moves, testing it out. It was heavier and longer than Yamato, but could cut just as quick and to Vergil, it felt slightly more powerful because of it. As Vergil practised with the weapon, he found to his delight that it would also extend out, doubling the pole length in a matter of split-seconds. The same could also be done with the opposite and sharpened end. Mildly pleased with the weapon, Vergil accepted it, absorbing it into his body, before leaving the site.

**_†††††††††††_**

The castle wall exploded, as Trish came flying out in a shower of dust and debris, flipping over so she landed on her feet in the courtyard, as Leonard floated out of the hole, twin purple fireballs kindling in his hands as he softly touched down.

"My dear Trish, please, don't make yourself look foolish. Here, let me help."

He hurled the fireballs, one after the other, as Trish leapt into the air, a golden aura suddenly appearing around her and she flew at Leonard with blinding speed, Sparda slicing through his body. Leonard was stunned by the blow, as Trish turned around.

"Bye-bye."

She fired numerous bolts of lightning, hammering them into Leonard, sending him crashing to the ground, as she then began putting more power into her bolts, firing off large gold beams of electric energy. They slammed into Leonard, kicking up dust, obscuring her view of the sorcerer, as she kept throwing the beams until the golden aura faded away from her body and she floated to the ground, resting on Sparda. However, when the dust faded away, Leonard was revealed to be still standing, a shield of light blue energy surrounding him. Trish gasped, as Leonard chuckled.

"Impressed, my dear? You should be."

Leonard sneered, as the shield began glowing red and fireballs suddenly burst from the surface, launching themselves straight at Trish. She leapt backwards to give herself space, then began putting her agility to good use, diving and rolling amongst the fireballs as they screamed towards her.

"You can't last long. You used up all your energy with that spectacular light show."

Sparda came flying towards him, but he wasn't worried, knowing that the shield would be able to hold up against the shield. However, Trish suddenly appeared above the shield, catching hold of Sparda and slamming it against the energy, dispersing it. Leonard leapt back, but Trish extended Sparda out, striking him in the chest, before narrowly avoiding the black energy projectile, as Leonard raised his hands, black bolts of energy surging between his palms. A portal opened up behind Trish, as thick tendrils shot out, wrapping around the demoness and holding her prisoner.

"What are you going to do now, my dear?" Leonard cackled, "How are you going to escape? You can't. Might as well sit back and enjoy the ride."

Trish groaned as blasts of black energy slammed into her body. Sparda was still in her hand, though wrapped tightly against her body. However, she connected her energy with the sword's and tapped into it. A beam of red energy sliced through the tendrils, completely shredding them, as Trish touched down on the ground. Growling in annoyance, Leonard threw two purple fireballs, but Trish swatted them away, before hurling Sparda. It spun around Leonard, slicing into his body, as he staggered back, feeling something press up against the back of his head. The sorcerer turned around slowly to see Trish holding Luce in his face. She smiled, as electricity crackled around the handgun, its focal point appearing in the barrel.

"Say goodnight," Trish smirked.

She pulled the trigger, as the bullet slammed into Leonard's head with a solid sound, blood, bone and brain matter flying everywhere as the sorcerer's head exploded in a shower of gore. The body twitched briefly, collapsing on the ground and melting away, leaving a burnt stain on the grass. Still smiling, Trish holstered the handgun and leapt back up to the hole in the castle wall.

**_†††††††††††_**

Celeste stabbed the Nobody through the chest, smiling as it howled and faded away. Tucking the Dragon Blades back into their sheaths, the youngest Sparda continued along the hallway of the massive castle. She had heard the story of Dante's epic battle with the Demon King from one of her brothers and never thought that she would ever be wondering down the corridors of the Demon King's castle.

She rounded the corner and came across a group of Fetishes waiting for her. She smirked, drawing out the Dragon Blades and was about to leap into battle when the wall to her left suddenly exploded and a massive form fell into the corridors, crushing all the demons beneath its weight. Celeste had no idea what was going on, until a familiar form, caked in blood, landed before her with a large grin on his face.

"Hey, little sister, how's it going?" Dante asked.

Celeste gave her brother a disgusted look, before looking over at the giant body, recognising it as the water demon that had taken out their helicopter, as Nicor's body disintegrated in a small white orb of light, travelling to Dante's outstretched hand, before changing and forming into a small ocarina.

"Wow," Dante said, staring at the instrument, "A guitar yeah I can handle, but an ocarina? Wonder what it does?"

"Let's just go," Celeste said, "You stink."

"Well, yeah, of course I would. That thing ate me!"

"Why doesn't that surprise me?"

**_†††††††††††_**


	17. Abbadon, Round Two

**_†††††††††††_**

Nero reached the drawbridge, seeing the portal where the barriers between the dimensions had been shattered. He was about to walk across the bridge when he hear something land beside him, but he didn't turn around to see who it was. Didn't need to, as Vergil joined his side, Yamato in hand.

"This place brings back a lot of memories I rather forget," the elder spoke.

"Yeah, it's got a creepy vibe to it, doesn't it?"

At that moment, Trish landed beside them, staring at the portal.

"Lots of thing about this place I like to forget," she said, "And this guy had to come along and bring them all back up. We should kill him."

"Hey, guys!"

The trio turned around to see Celeste and Dante walking towards them. The latter reached his wife and pulled her into a hug, before facing the portal with his arm around her waist, a small smile on his face.

"Well, here we go again," the red-clad hunter said, looking over at his wife and twin, who had been with him on the island before, "Shall we get this party started?"

"Don't mind if we do," Vergil said with a small smirk.

One by one, they stepped through the portal, entering a hellish dimension. A few demons tried to oppose them, but didn't stand a chance as they were killed casually with a single shot to the head. Soon, they came to a large set of doors and Dante kicked them open, entering the massive room where he had very first confronted Mundus two years earlier, his siblings and wife following after him. As they approached the giant throne, Abbadon stepped into view, flames burning on his behemoth body, as Asmodeus peered down at them from atop the throne.

"So glad you could finally join us," the demon sneered.

"Looks like you need a smaller throne," Dante said, twirling Ivory around his finger, "I'm sure we can reshape Abbadon here into something more suitable."

"Oh, you're such an amusing one, Dante. Of course, you are even more amusing when you're dead. Shall we have Abbadon carry out the deed?"

Holstering Ivory and drawing Rebellion, placing the tip on the ground, Dante grinned.

"Sure. If you think he can."

"Fool. He bested you easily and you were a lot stronger than. And you had more people fighting on your side as well. What makes you think you can win here?"

Dante shrugged, "Dunno. Not gonna know unless I try."

"Very well then. Abbadon, kill them all and have fun."

Abbadon grunted in acknowledgement and faced the group. Dante smiled, bowing his head and raising his left hand to the air, making the universal 'rock on' symbol with his fingers, as Vergil and Nero moved away from his right, while Celeste and Trish moved away from his left.

"Let's rock."

Abbadon roared, flames flaring on his body, as he charged like a raging bull. Dante leapt back, swinging Rebellion up to block the demon's fist, as Nero moved in, swinging the Red Queen, clanging off Abbadon's thick hide, as the demon whirled around, backhanding Nero through the air. Trish fired with her handguns, as Vergil performed the Judgement Cut, however, Abbadon was already on the move, slamming into Celeste and knocking her through the air. Dante appeared before Abbadon, but the demon's fist slammed into his chin, as Vergil appeared, slashing with Yamato. He ducked Abbadon's backhand, but then he was grabbed by the face, as Abbadon slammed him against a pillar, pushing on the hybrid's body until he broke through the pillar. Abbadon, while still holding onto Vergil, slammed him into the next pillar, smashing through it and repeating it again for the next few pillars, before throwing the hybrid aside. Sparda clanged against the rock-like hide, as Abbadon whirled around.

Trish leapt back, firing off two lightning bolts, which barely did any damage to the demon, as she then crouched down and left a small circle of electricity on the ground. Abbadon stomped towards her, not noticing or not caring about the trap, until he stepped on it and it fired a large bolt of electricity into his body. Abbadon roared, as Trish lunged at him, swinging Sparda, but he caught the sword and flung her aside like she was a rag doll, as Nero struck with his Diablo Bringer. When that failed, he slashed with the Red Queen, as Abbadon struck him in the jaw, sending him flying along the floor. With a roar, Abbadon charged towards Nero, but Vergil and Dante appeared before their brother, letting loose with a volley of phantom swords and bullets, as Abbadon held his arms out, catching the twins around the neck in a violent clothes-line, while kicking Nero through the air, before throwing the twins beside their brother, as a beam of ice shards washed over Abbadon.

The demon turned around, letting out a growl, as Celeste created another beam of ice shards. The flames flared larger on Abbadon's body, as he charged at Celeste. At the last moment, she leapt out of the way, but Abbadon grabbed her by the leg and slammed her back into the ground. She let out a cry of pain, quickly replaced by a gasp for air when Abbadon's fist slammed into her stomach. Removing his fist, Abbadon chuckled as Celeste didn't move and he reared back his head, letting loose with a blast of flames that washed over her body. A scream of pain echoed from beneath the flames and when they finally died down, Celeste was still there, her skin badly burnt and half her clothes peeled away by the flames. She coughed, as Abbadon chuckled. Just then, red phantom swords began stabbing into his back, fitting in between the cracks in his hide and he turned around to glare at Dante.

"Yeah, come on you ugly bastard, come to papa."

Abbadon roared and charged towards Dante, as he held Rebellion down low and raced towards the massive demon. At the last moment, Dante leapt up, tossing the rose from his mouth, destroying all the swords at once, causing Abbadon to stagger, as he came falling down and lashed out with Rebellion in the trademark Stinger blow, striking Abbadon in the face. Ignoring the fact he had just been struck in the face with a sword, Abbadon continued charging, grabbing Dante in a bear hug and slamming him to the ground, before rearing back his fists and punching the demon hunter deeper into the floor, tiles flying up into the air from the force of the blow.

A large broken piece of a pillar slammed into Abbadon and he snarled as he faced Nero, before charging at him. Nero revved up the Red Queen and fired off a charged shot from the Blue Rose, before lunging at Abbadon and swinging the Red Queen. Flames leapt off the blade, as Nero was knocked into the air, before getting slammed to the ground. Abbadon then grabbed Nero by the face and dragged him through the tiled floor, then hurled him through a pillar.

"Anyone get the license plate off that thing that just hit me?" Nero groaned.

Vergil groaned as he slowly got to his feet, the wounds in his body healing slowly, while Trish was kneeling beside Celeste, transferring her energy into the hybrid in order to kick-start her healing abilities. Growling, Vergil gathered energy into Yamato and then slashed wide. As usual, the beam of energy didn't do anything to Abbadon, but some small satisfaction that came was that Vergil was able to at slice some part of Abbadon's hide off. However, that didn't stop Abbadon from smashing Vergil's head into the ground, as Abbadon then leapt up into the air and came crashing down with his knees into Vergil's chest. The hybrid cried out in agony when he felt several ribs shatter under the impact. Abbadon roared in amusement and stepped off Vergil, but not before stomping on his ribs once more time.

Asmodeus smiled as he looked around the hall. Nero was lying face-down on the ground, while Vergil had fallen unconscious due to his broken ribcage. Trish was beside Celeste, waking the burnt hybrid up. As for Dante…he was walking towards Abbadon with fire in his eyes, Rebellion held tightly in his hand.

"It's time for you to go down, Abbadon," Dante called, "And I'll be the one who kicks your ass to that point. Come on."

"You're foolish, Dante," Asmodeus said, "You'll just die. Abbadon, kill him."

Abbadon grunted and stalked towards Dante, before breaking into a run. Dante held his ground, a small sadistic grin on his face, as red energy covered Rebellion's blade. Abbadon roared and drew back his mammoth fist, ready to smash it through Dante's skull. Dante dashed towards, stabbing Rebellion forward in the Stinger motion, however, at the last minute, he Devil Triggered, transforming into his Majin form, as Rebellion was absorbed into his body and a long red sword slid out from his forearm. Dante slammed his fist into Abbadon's chest, the energy being discharged and allowing his fist to slice straight through the demon's body, exiting through his back. Abbadon cried out in shock, as Dante gritted his teeth, before removing his fist. Asmodeus' eyes widen in surprise, unable to believe what he had just seen. The mighty Abbadon, who was considered unstoppable and nigh indestructible, now had a large gaping hole in his body. Abbadon fell to his feet, as Dante flew up, before hurling one large fireball after another, until Abbadon's body shattered and all that was left of the unstoppable demon were burning rocks scattered across the floor. Dante landed and resumed his human form, a weary smile on his face.

"Finally. Now he's been taken care of, time for the puppet master."

Asmodeus was burning with rage. He couldn't believe that Dante had finally managed to destroy Abbadon, a demon considered impossible to destroy, let alone defeat. But that didn't matter now. After all, he had the power to finally destroy Dante once and for all. Cooling his rage, Asmodeus forced a smile on his face.

"You are correct, Dante. Time to get started."

**_†††††††††††_**


	18. Dante vs Asmodeus

**_†††††††††††_**

"You may have succeeded in the future," Dante said, "Doesn't mean you'll succeed here. You will be ended today."

"You weren't even strong enough to face me," Asmodeus said, "And here, you're even more weak. What makes you think you even stand a chance?"

"Nothing does, but I'm going to give it a shot and see how that turns out. If I win, great, if I don't, well, damn."

"You're not going to fight him alone," Vergil said, standing beside his twin.

Although his ribs were healing, the majority of them were still broken and causing him a lot of pain even by just standing, but Vergil refused to let the pain show on his face, despite the fact he was feeling light-headed and swaying slightly on his feet due to the intense agony of his shattered ribs.

"Yeah, if we're gonna go out, we're going out together," Nero agreed, joining them.

"Sounds good," Dante said, before calling out to Trish, "How's Celeste doing?"

"She's healing," the blonde demoness replied, "I think she'll be okay."

"Hmm, so you all want to die together?" Asmodeus said, "That can be arranged."

He raised his hand, taking aim at Dante. However, at the last second, he switched target to Vergil and fired a red beam of energy, similar to Mundus, which impaled the eldest Sparda through the chest. He groaned, falling to the ground, stunned by the attack, as Asmodeus then fired another beam at Nero, which stabbed into his thigh. Nero cried out, staggering back, another beam spearing him through the right shoulder, causing him to fall to the ground.

"So easy. I didn't even have to try," Asmodeus grinned.

"How about this then?"

Dante whipped out Ivory and fired off a quick shot. The bullet spiralled through the air towards Asmodeus, but he inclined his head slightly, dodging the bullet, as he fired a beam of energy at Dante. He growled, standing still, as the beam bounced off his body, causing Asmodeus' mouth to drop open in surprise.

"What?"

"I will not let you win here," Dante growled, "I will save the future!"

He hurled Rebellion through the air. Without flinching, Asmodeus caught the sword by the blade, as Dante appeared before him, ripping Rebellion out of his hand and spun around, slashing Asmodeus across the stomach. The demon was knocked back against the throne, as Dante came flying down, Rebellion slicing into the marble, as Asmodeus kicked Dante in the jaw, before firing a spear of red energy at close range. Dante was knocked off the throne, landing on the floor far below, as Asmodeus appeared at the front of the throne, a scowl sitting upon his features.

"I guess it is time to show you my true power. I never got to reveal this to you in the future, so now, here's my chance. I hope you enjoy it."

Asmodeus stood on the edge of the throne, before levitating in the air, as his entire body began glowing brightly, bright enough that those conscious had to cover their eyes or look away from the intensity of the light. Asmodeus began transforming, his entire body shifting and changing, growing larger with each passing second. His armour shattered and fell away in pieces, as his skin thickened, becoming a similar texture as stone marble. He grew to a gigantic state, his skin turned flawless white and his hair grew longer, reaching down to his shoulders, as a third eye opened in his forehead. Asmodeus cackled, towering over Dante, who now looked like a large insect, as the final part of the transformation kicked in. A set of robes appeared around Asmodeus' waist, reaching down to his knees, as a massive pair of white angelic wings unfolded from his back, stretching out across the hall. Asmodeus laughed, a deep echoing laugh which reverberated around the entire hall and spoke promises of a slow, torturous death.

**"****How do you like me now, Dante?"** Asmodeus asked.

"Nothing more than a sad imitation of Mundus, who was an epic fail in my book," Dante retorted, "Such a copycat. I think you forgot that I defeated Mundus."

**"****That may be, but I am stronger than Mundus. A lot stronger."**

"The bigger you are, the harder you fall."

The area behind Asmodeus began to crumble and fall away, revealing a black backdrop littered with stars. Familiarity washed over Dante, as the new dimension threatened to overtake the hall, but stopped halfway, as Asmodeus spread his gigantic wings and flew backwards into the starry dimension.

**"****Come, Dante, come and die!"**

Dante stabbed Rebellion into the ground and held his left hand out. Although he would have liked heading into battle with Rebellion, he knew he needed more firepower and there was only one other weapon that could provide that for him. Trish didn't protest as Sparda, which had been lying beside her, flew from the floor and into Dante's outstretched hand. He closed his eyes, clearing his mind and allowing himself to tap into the sword's power. And instantly, it flooded his body, nearly overwhelming him, but he managed to maintain and control it, as his body began glowing a deep vibrant red and he opened his eyes, which had now turned blood red.

"Alright, Asmodeus, you wanna fight? Let's go then."

Dante rushed forward and leapt up through the dimensions, entering the starry world, as Asmodeus launched three energy spears. Dodging them with multiple Skystars, Dante did a mid-air Stinger, only for Asmodeus to backhand him. Pain flooded Dante's body, as he compared the blow to being struck by a train. Flipping over and stopping himself against a circle of red energy he created, Dante pushed off, firing with Ebony and Ivory, as Asmodeus reached out for him, just missing him when he Dashed out of the way, but then he drove his truck-size fist into Dante's back. As the hybrid fell, Asmodeus kicked him through the air, before firing a beam of energy from the third eye in his forehead. Dante just managed to stop himself, but was unable to avoid the beam, as it slammed into him, crushing him with its size and power.

**"****Well, that was too easy,"** Asmodeus chuckled, **"Goodbye, Dante."**

"Hello, Ass-moron."

**"****Huh?"**

Asmodeus looked to his right where the voice was coming from, as Dante, in his Dreadnaught form, fired the Coyote-A into his face a point-blank range. Asmodeus roared, falling back, as Dante leapt off his shoulder, twisting around and firing explosive arrows from Pandora, before creating the air tank. Positioning himself inside the machine, Dante flew away from the giant Demon King and fired all the turrets. Asmodeus roared as the rockets slammed into his chest all at once, causing him to falter in his flight. Closing Pandora up, Dante resumed his human form, before summoning Lucifer, as Asmodeus flew up before him.

**"****But how? That should have killed you!"**

"Dreadnaught and Air Trick," Dante grinned, "Never leave home without them."

**"****I'll kill you!"**

Asmodeus fired off three energy spears, which Dante dodged, before quickly raising Sparda up to block the incoming fist. It clanged against the legendary sword and the force of the blow propelled Dante through the air. Asmodeus grinned and fired another three energy spears, his grin growing wider when they impaled Dante through his torso and left thigh. He groaned in pain, as Asmodeus flew at him with astonishing speed, drawing back his right fist to deliver a body-crushing blow. Gritting his teeth, Dante summoned Gilgamesh, before holding out his hands, catching Asmodeus' fist, getting driven back by the force of the blow. Gilgamesh began glowing, charging up energy, first white energy, then yellow, before finally turning to red, as the thrusters popped out of the greaves and Dante kicked the fist away, surprising Asmodeus, which allowed Dante to come flying in and deliver an energy-dispelling punch. Asmodeus flew back through the air, as Dante appeared before him, however, Asmodeus' hand shot up, wrapping around the hybrid and pinning his arms to his sides, as Asmodeus straightened himself, laughing as he did.

**"****What do we have here? My very own action figure! How much pressure can you withstand before I crush you to dust, Dante?"**

He grinned and proceeded to crush Dante within his grip, causing the hybrid to scream in agony as he felt his entire body beginning to compress. Already he could feel his ribs threatening to break under the pressure and it was beginning to make him feel light-headed. He wasn't sure how much more he could withstand before he passed out, but he was trying his best to stay conscious, despite seeing black spots before his eyes, as Asmodeus grinned and applied more pressure.

**"****You lose, Dante. See, I told you you can't beat me. But you're stubborn and refused to submit and die again without pain. Too bad."**

"Yeah…nn…too bad…I am stubborn…ugh."

Closing his eyes, Dante focused on the power within him, before unleashing it, Devil Triggering into his Majin form, the energy involved in the transformation expanding out from his body and shattering Asmodeus' hand like it was make of twigs. Asmodeus roared in agony, falling back, as Dante hovered before him, two pairs of wings spread out wide and Sparda in his hand.

"Now, it is time for you to die."

**"****Oh, we'll see about that,"** Asmodeus growled, **"You may have transformed, but it is still nothing compared to my power."**

He raised his remaining hand, firing a beam of energy, which Dante avoid easily, before flying at Asmodeus and slashing him across the face with Sparda, leaving a deep cut running from the right corner of his lip to above his left eye.

"You were saying?" Dante asked.

**_†††††††††††_**


	19. Shall Never Surrender

**Oh and btw, this will be the final Sons of Sparda story, I believe. I was going to rewrite the series, but I guess that's how this one came about. So I hope this one serves well as a finale**

**_†††††††††††_**

Vergil groaned as he opened his eyes, seeing Nero hovering over him. Pushing his brother away, he rolled over onto his side, hissing in agony as his healing ribs protested against his movement.

"Well, you're alive, so that's a good sign," Nero said, "Although you look like crap."

"Come here…and I'll make you look worse," Vergil threatened.

Nero rolled his eyes and held his hand out. His brother took it and got to his feet, before leaning on his shoulder as his body continued healing. Nero winced as the weight was placed on his injured leg, but he decided not to protest, seeing as how Vergil was in worse shape than he was.

"How's Celeste?" Vergil asked.

"She's fine. She's awake and moving, which is good news."

Vergil summoned Yamato to his hand and used it as a crutch, as Trish and a still healing Celeste joined their sides, with the former staring at the starry dimension.

"I think we should go and help," Trish said, "He's going to need it."

"Sounds good," Nero said, "But I think we've got company coming."

He pointed at the door, as they burst open and a horde of demons entered the hall, mostly consisting of Nobodies and Fetishes, with several Blades, Sin Scissors and Scythes, Death Scissors and Scythe, some Frost Blades, about three Orangguerras, a few Plutonians, a Furiataurus and to top it off, there were about two Blitz demons.

"Looks like the party bus has arrived," Nero said.

He stood with Trish, as Vergil and Celeste, both being the more injured of the group, hung back. Until Vergil stepped forward with the Phantom cannon and fired. The ball of lava slammed into the demons, spreading them out all over the hall and killing practically all the Nobodies and Fetishes. Vergil allowed a self-satisfied smile to grace his features, as the rest of the demons picked themselves up. However, portals opened up in the hall, dispensing more Nobodies and Fetishes, along with several Hell Pride and Lust demons, causing Vergil to glare at the demons.

"Well…that's just great. Fine, I'm spoiling for a fight."

He Devil Triggered and his healing ability was greatly increased, repairing his broken ribs rapidly and he lunged into battle. Celeste also Devil Triggered, healing the rest of her injured body, as she flew at the Furiataurus, stabbing it in the chest, before flying above it and creating a whirlwind of ice shards around the demon, encasing it completely in ice, then shattering the statue into a thousand pieces. A Blitz demon fired a beam of lightning at Trish, which she countered with one of her own, before teleporting to beside the demon and grabbing its arm, her natural power of electricity granting her immunity to the demon's electric coat. She then placed her boot into the Blitz's side and pulled hard, dislocating its arm. The Blitz screeched in pain, as Trish then grabbed it around the neck and twisted, snapping its neck. The Blitz fell dead to the ground, as Trish caught a Hell Pride's scythe by the handle and kicked the demon in the chest, before unleashing bolts of lightning upon it.

Nero snatched up a newly-arrived Scarecrow with the Devil Bringer and slammed its face into the ground, before hurling it at the nearby group of Scarecrows, as a Hell Lust lunged at Nero. He blocked with the Red Queen, before impaling the demon with a Light spear and throwing it towards a Plutonian, catching it in the chest. Grinning, Nero sliced a Fetish open, before knocking a Blade into the air, then leaping after it and grabbing it with the Diablo Bringer, falling to the ground and violently smashing the Blade into the ground several times, before kicking it aside. Meanwhile, Vergil resumed his human form, his body fully healed from the transformation and he smiled sinisterly, flicking Yamato slightly and splitting a Nobody down the centre. Both halves fell away, as Vergil summoned Berith's axe, swinging it like a baseball bat and knocking a Hell Sloth's head for a home run, before extending the stake out to impale three Gbusmiras at once. Flicking them off, Vergil cleaved a Goatling in half, before leaping over a Death Scythe and extending the stake end again, stabbing the demon through the head. It howled as it faded away and Vergil summoned Yamato again.

"This is just starting to get fun."

**_†††††††††††_**

Dante flew back, hurling fireballs, as Asmodeus created a large shield of energy around him to absorb the fireballs, but Dante came rocketing at him, spiralling around and breaking through the shield, extending Sparda out like a spear. Asmodeus staggered back, firing three energy spears which stabbed into Dante. He flew upwards, away from the energy beam, before throwing more fireballs. Asmodeus suddenly appeared behind him and struck him with his remaining fist, as Dante whirled around, bouncing off an Air Hike and shooting back up towards Asmodeus. He fired a beam of energy from his third eye, which Dante dodged with a Skystar, before summoning Pandora and transforming it into the laser cannon. Performing an Air Trick, Dante appeared before Asmodeus, firing the cannon right into his face. Asmodeus roared, falling back through the air, but not before he caught Dante with an energy blast.

**"****You're putting up a better fight than the future you did,"** Asmodeus said, **"I daresay you have even managed to injure me. But it's not enough."**

"No, that's true. I can't keep injuring you," Dante said, "I gotta kill you."

**"****You're quite welcome to try."**

Dante shrugged, before curling up into a foetal position. Asmodeus frowned, watching as the hybrid began glowing brightly. Growling, the Demon King flew forward, determine to stop Dante from doing whatever it was he was planning to do, but he was too late, as Dante stretched out again, a wave of energy exploding off his body and a large beam was blasted from his chest. It crashed into Asmodeus, sending him spiralling through the air, but he managed to fire off an energy blast that struck Dante. Drawing Sparda, Dante flew after the falling King and landed on his chest, slicing into his marble skin, but three energy spears were impaled in his body, preventing him from doing anything further. Falling off the King, Dante charged energy into Sparda and sliced the air, as the beam flew off and straight through Asmodeus' left wing. He cried out as his wing was severed and he plummeted to the ground far below, creating a massive crater in the dirt ground, which quickly filled up with lava, as Dante turned back into his human form and dropped out of the air.

He landed on the ground, in the very same area where he had found Mundus in a pool of lava. He wanted to rest, wanting to believe that Asmodeus had been destroyed in the lava, but he knew he was kidding himself. If he was anything like Mundus, he would have survived that and he would rise from the lava like a phoenix rose from the ashes. And this time, Dante wasn't sure if he survive, as he was feeling weak from the fight and the numerous energy blasts he had to endure. Holding Sparda unsteadily in his hand, Dante forced himself to his feet, staring at the pool of lava and waiting. He didn't have to wait for very long, as Asmodeus soon burst out of the pool, his body drenched in the molten rock, as he reached out with his new hand, which was made completely of lava and rock, rage burning in his damaged eyes.

"And here we go, round two," Dante said.

He narrowly avoided Asmodeus' lava hand, before leaping away as a pillar of lava burst up from his previous position. Asmodeus growled, as balls of lava flew out of the pool, before raining down upon Dante. He ducked, dodged and weaved around the deadly rain, shooting with Ebony and Ivory as he did, but Asmodeus punched the wall of the crater, smashing it open and letting a river of lava run from the pool.

**"****You can't escape me, Dante,"** Asmodeus snarled, **"This is where you die!"**

"Correction," Dante said, "This is where you die."

Asmodeus roared and plunged his right hand into the lava, as the area beneath Dante grew white-hot. He barely leapt away in time, as a massive hand composed of lava burst through the ground, before retreating when it caught nothing. Dante fired with Ebony and Ivory, dodging the energy spears, before leaping over Asmodeus' sweeping hand. The Demon King roared in annoyance, creating another rain of lava, then swiftly plunging his right hand back into the lava. As Dante was busy dodging the balls of lava, Asmodeus' right hand burst through the ground again, snatching hold of Dante and squeezing tightly, searing his clothes and flesh with the intense heat.

**"****Ha ha, now I have you, Dante. And this time, you can't escape. Any last words? Anything you would like me to tell your wife? Your brothers? Your dear little sister? Tell me and I promise to repeat it to them before I kill them."**

"Trish…Vergil…Nero…Celeste," Dante groaned, "No…no…no."

Memories flashed through his mind, memories of the future where Abbadon and Asmodeus had slaughtered everyone close to his heart. His future self had to watch as his wife and siblings were murdered before his very eyes. Had to watch as his own children were beaten down and killed like they were nothing. Like their lives didn't matter at all. And the final memory flashed in his mind of his future self being beaten to the point of death, before finally being dealt the final blow. And now, Dante had been tasked with protecting the future by destroying Asmodeus. He was out of league, but he knew he had to keep trying to save the future was happening or worse. Everyone was counting on him. The images of his baby children floated into his mind. They were so innocent and they would never have the chance to live their lives. Especially if Dante was to fail here. And he refused to give in. He refused to surrender and let this demon, the destroyer of his future, from taking over the world. The memories of the future flashed through his mind once, bringing the bubbling rage boiling to the surface.

"NOOOOOOO!"

Dante Devil Triggered, completely destroying Asmodeus' hand again and taking the Demon King aback with his power. However, Dante hadn't transformed into his normal or his Majin demon forms. Instead, he had transformed into his father's demon form. A look of fear washed over Asmodeus at the sight of his rival, as Dante summoned the Sparda sword to his hand.

**"****What's this? No, this can't be. This can't be! You're dead, Sparda!"**

"No," Dante said in a cold demonic voice, "You're dead, Asmodeus."

**_†††††††††††_**


	20. Bullet Chain Jackpot

**_†††††††††††_**

Vergil impaled the Orangguerra through the head, but then stopped as the entire hall shook. Pillars and parts of the ceiling began coming down, as the demons were crushed beneath the debris. The three siblings and Trish did their best to avoid the crumbling parts of the massive hall, often pulling each other out of the way of something dangerous, as a massive flash of light appeared in the starry dimension. When it faded away, the shaking stopped and Vergil looked around the wrecked hall.

"What the hell just happened?" Celeste asked, "What was that all about?"

"No idea," Vergil replied, "But something big went down."

"What if it was Dante?" Trish said, "God, I hope he's still alive."

"Something's coming," Nero cried, pointing at the dimension.

The four stood before the dimension, all in a defensive stance, hands near their weapons as the small blip in the dimension slowly got bigger, as a form clad in red, burnt clothing dropped out before them, the large Sparda sword clanging beside him. Vergil was by his twin's side in an instant, rolling him over and checking him for a pulse. Dante opened his electric blue eyes and grinned.

"I did it!"

"Did what? Almost get yourself killed?" Vergil asked.

"That too. But I defeated Asmodeus."

Coughing, Dante pulled away from his brother and sat up, as Trish fell to his side, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. He winced in pain, but accepted the embrace nonetheless, glad to be in her arms once again. He smiled, breathing in her scent, as she helped him to his feet. He handed her Sparda and she placed it on her back, before taking him over to Rebellion, where it was still standing impaled in the ground. Dante smiled as his hand wrapped around his trademark weapon and he lifted it out of the ground, before sheathing it, as his siblings surrounded him and his wife.

"So is it true?" Celeste asked, "Is Asmodeus really gone?"

"Yep, he sure is," Dante said, "Completely destroyed him. Now we don't have to worry about him for another thirty years, but I'm sure we can manage him then."

"Well, I'm glad you're okay," Trish said, "Then, we're going to go home and I'm gonna give you an earful over this, got it?"

"Looking forward to it," Dante groaned, "Can we just go? I wanna get off this blasted island and I want some pizza and a massive strawberry sundae."

"Same old Dante, always thinking about his stomach," Nero grinned.

That remark earned him a punch in the arm from his older brother.

"He he….ow."

"Come on, let's get out of here," Vergil said, "I have a wife to tend to."

He turned to leave the hall with everyone else, but a massive rumbling forced them all to stop, as they fell to their knees due to the force of the earthquake. More parts of the hall fell apart, as Dante looked around for the source of the commotion. Another flash of light appeared in the starry dimension, as a massive creature made of marble and covered in lava appeared in the hall. There were numerous cuts covering his white skin wherever the lava showed it, while his wings were nothing more than little stumps. Only his left eye was left uncovered by the lava, as Asmodeus roared and staggered forward. Vergil was the first on his feet and he performed a dimensional slash with Yamato, but Asmodeus lashed out with surprising speed, smacking Vergil halfway across the hall. He slammed against the wall and fell, as Nero hurled several Dark daggers. They stabbed into Asmodeus' lava skin, but he barely seemed to notice them, before striking the ground with his right fist. Nero leapt away from the pillar of lava that burst up from the ground, as Asmodeus quickly backhanded him. Nero smashed through one pillar and struck another, falling to the ground, as Celeste ran up, crossing her Dragon Blades over and creating a beam of ice shards.

"Dammit, he's still alive," Dante cried, as Celeste flew through the air, "I thought I destroyed him."

"Guess not, dear," Trish said.

She drew Sparda and hurled it through the air. Asmodeus roared as it sliced into his body, as Trish caught Sparda and fired off several lightning bolts, before creating a circle of gold energy and firing off several balls of lightning. Asmodeus roared and struck the ground with his left fist, as it sank beneath the ground, before bursting up beneath Trish and snatching hold of her. Dante cried out, shooting with Ebony and Ivory, but Asmodeus simply laughed, before opening his mouth and a river of lava poured out. Dante leapt into the air to avoid it, but Asmodeus' other fist slammed into him, sending him careening through a couple of pillars. Trish cried out as Asmodeus tightened his grip, as Vergil moved with blinding speed, slicing across the wrist and causing Asmodeus to let Trish go. As Vergil moved in for another attack, Asmodeus caught him with a pillar of lava, blasting him through the air. Vergil hit the ground, groaning in pain as smoke curled off his body, burns covering his flesh.

**"****You are a fool to think you had defeated me, Dante,"** Asmodeus roared, **"And now, I will pay you back by killing your family once again."**

"No, you won't," Dante said, getting to his feet, "This ends now!"

His eyes flashed red as he walked towards the giant grotesque mass of lava. Asmodeus sneered, firing three energy spears, grinning as they impaled Dante through the body. He groaned, charging energy up into Rebellion and slashing. The beam flew up and struck Asmodeus, knocking him back, but he responded by punching Dante to the ground, as Nero came leaping in. He swung the Red Queen, as Asmodeus blocked with his arm, before punching Nero, then backhanding Celeste. She skidded along the floor, as Trish fired several more lightning bolts. She dodged the pillar of lava, then narrowly avoided the lava fist as it burst out of the ground again, only to have Asmodeus kick her aside like she was a soccer ball. She groaned as she slid to a stop. Dante got to his feet again, hissing in pain, as Asmodeus created a rain of lava. The hybrid dodged and Dashed, leaping up at Asmodeus, only to get punched down again.

**"****Let's face it, you can't win. Just give up and I'll make it painless for you."**

"Guys, we seriously have to stop this freak," Dante said.

"Yeah, got any ideas?" Nero called.

"Remember how we destroyed Beelzebub? Let's do it that same way. Give me all your energy from your Devil Triggers."

Nero nodded and gathered energy within himself, before Devil Triggering and sending the energy to his brother, who absorbed it within himself. Celeste did the same thing, giving Dante her Devil Trigger energy, as a lightning bolt struck Dante in the back. However, it wasn't an incapacitating attack, but one that gave Dante more power. He smiled towards his wife, feeling the energy within him, as his body glowed deep red and he Devil Triggered into his regular form.

**"****What do you plan on doing here?"** Asmodeus asked.

Dante simply smirked as he whipped out Ebony and Ivory, transferring his siblings' Devil Trigger energy into the custom handguns. He fired once with both guns and a part of Asmodeus was blasted off. Another two bullets were fired and another piece of Asmodeus was blasted away. His grin grew wider and Dante began whooping as he fired away with his handguns, crossing his arms over in front of him, shooting from behind his neck, behind his back, trying a variety of positions, while blasting chucks of Asmodeus, until soon, all that was left was Asmodeus in his original form, human-sized and naked except for the robes around his waist. He looked down at himself, horrified by what he was seeing and at how much power he had lost. He looked up at Dante with barely suppressed rage and he summoned his zweihander, before charging at the hybrid. Dante grinned as he crossed his arms over in front of him once again. However, before he could shoot, another blast of energy struck him from behind, but he quickly recognised it as Vergil's Devil Trigger energy. Smirking, Dante transferred Vergil's energy into Ebony, then transferred some of his own energy into Ivory, as the handguns began glowing. Asmodeus snarled as he lunged at Dante, who simply smiled and raised his glowing handguns.

"Jackpot."

Squeezing both triggers, Dante fired two charged bullets, which slammed into Asmodeus' chest. He roared as his entire body began glowing, the light covering the entire hall. An explosion rang out, destroying the hall, as flames erupted in the hellish dimension, swiftly spreading through and out of the portal, as the blinding light reached the restored castle and exploded, completely annihilating the castle, as chucks of mortar rained down into the ocean surrounding the island. More, smaller explosions continued to ring out throughout the entire island and the hell dimension, before finally dying down, with Mallet Island looking like the ruins it had become following Mundus' defeat once more. The portal had closed, since it had been destroyed by the explosion created by Asmodeus' powers, sealing off the entry to the hell dimension forever. Peace and quiet soon came to the island once the rain of mortar had died down, as a helicopter hovered in the air above the island.

**_†††††††††††_**


	21. The Aftermath

†††††††††††

"Oh man, I could sleep for a week!" Dante cried

He was lying on the beach, which thankfully had been left untouched by the explosion, while Trish was sitting beside him. Vergil and Nero were also lying on the beach, while Celeste was sitting atop one of the large rocks, chin in hand.

"You could try sleeping for a week," Trish said, "But remember, we do have young children that require a lot of our attention."

"Oh yeah. Heh, something for you to look forward to, Vergil. Sleepless nights, dirty diapers, vomiting and a lot of crying. And that's the good stuff."

"Shut up, Dante," Vergil snapped, "Before I kill you."

"That'll have to wait for another time. I'm too tired following that fight."

"But hey, we won," Nero said, "We managed to defeat Asmodeus and prevent us from dying in the future. Well, at least until he rises in thirty years time."

"Yes, but at least this time, we have proper warning," Vergil replied, "We have another thirty years to find a way to destroy him when he rises."

"There's one factor on our side," Trish pointed out, "He won't have Abbadon. We've already destroyed him here."

"Hey guys, we have company," Celeste said

Dante cracked his eyes open, as a BSAA helicopter came down from the sky. Groaning, Dante reluctantly moved himself out of the way with everyone else, as the helicopter touched down on the beach and the side hatch was thrown open.

"Lady?" Vergil and Dante cried.

"Kyrie?" Nero added.

"Looks like you guys did a good job on the island," Lady said, stepping out of the helicopter as it powered down, "At least Dumary Island isn't as bad."

"Lady, what are you doing here?" Dante asked, before adding quickly, "Not that I'm saying you being here is bad at all, cause you have a helicopter and…uh…Vergil, she's your wife, you talk to her."

"What? Oh fine. I'm with Dante. You're pregnant and this place is dangerous, so what made you come out here?"

Lady glared at her husband and brother-in-law, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Well, in that case then, I'll just head off with the helicopter and leave you two here."

"No, don't do that, please, don't do that," Dante pleaded, "Can we go now?"

"Well sure, come on."

Lady smiled as she got back onto the helicopter. It whirred to life, as everyone joined her inside the helicopter, with Vergil taking his place beside his wife, hand on her thigh and his head on her shoulder, while Dante sat with Trish, leaning against her and closing his eyes, as Nero, Kyrie and Celeste took their seats. The hatch was closed and the helicopter lifted up off the beach, before turning away and leaving the destroyed island behind as it flew back towards Fortuna Island.

†††††††††††

The doors to Devil May Cry burst open and Dante staggered into the store, supported by Trish as she took him over to the office. There, they removed all their weapons, but due to tiredness, they simply dropped them on the floor or the office desk, as Dante shed his coat, gloves and boots, while Trish went upstairs to check on the twins. Dante said farewell to Morrison and headed upstairs as well, unbuckling his shirt, standing behind Trish as she gazed into the cribs, where Tristan and Jenny were staring back at her with wide blue eyes. Dante smiled as he came up behind his wife, wrapping his arms around her waist and she sighed in content, leaning back against him, as he smiled at his children.

"They're so cute. So young and innocent," Dante said, "Well, for Jenny anyway. But at least we have a chance to give Tristan the same life as Jenny."

"Yeah, I hope so," Trish said, "I want them to have a normal life together. Well, as normal a life as we can give them."

"Don't worry, babe, judging from these memories, Jenny becomes a bright and happy kid. So does Tristan, though it takes him about twenty years to get there."

"I wish they didn't have to grow up. Sleepless night and dirty diapers aside, they're really cute when they're like this."

"I know."

Dante broke away from his wife and picked up a small rattle, before dangling it over his son. He reached up for the toy, taking it from his father and shook it a few times, a smile coming to his chubby face, as Dante then picked up a fluffy toy bunny and waved it in front of his daughter. She took hold of the bunny with clumsy fingers, before sucking on its ears.

"I'm going for a shower," Trish said, "God knows I need one."

"I've got an idea," Dante said, "Let's save water and go together?"

He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, as Trish rolled her eyes.

"And here I was thinking you were too tired for that."

"What? No way. I'm good. All good to go."

Just to prove it, Dante swept Trish up into her arms and carried her shrieking to the bathroom, where in the shower, her shrieking soon turned to moans of pleasure.

†††††††††††

_Six months later…_

"Who's a big boy now?" Dante asked.

Tristan smiled and kicked his feet, as Dante picked him up and carried him downstairs to the living room, where Trish was with Jenny.

"Wow, can't believe it's been a year already," Dante said, "Look at how fast they've grown. Soon, they'll be sneaking out in the night and getting up to all sorts of shenanigans before we know it."

"Oh don't remind me," Trish said, "I'm already not looking forward to that."

"Well, look forward to it, cause they're gonna be like that. They take after me."

"That's true. I feel sorry for them already."

"Hey!"

Trish smiled at her husband and placed her daughter in the playpen, where she was soon joined by her twin. Dante smiled as he watched his children play together, doing his best to ignore the dread building in his chest. He had been preparing himself for this day and he hoped everything went according to plan. Everything centred of the plan going right and if it did, then Jenny was going to have her twin brother around as she grew up, instead of meeting him for the first time when she's twenty.

Soon, the guests had arrived for the small birthday party. Nero and a four-month-pregnant Kyrie were the firsts to arrive, followed by Vergil and a heavily pregnant Lady, then Dante's grandfather, Graxtius and good friend, Leon Kennedy. Due to what was soon to happen, Leon had left his wife and young son at home.

"So glad you could all come here," Dante said, "Now, we're all here for a special occasion, but there's also another reason why we're here."

He then checked his watch, before drawing out Ivory and without looking or turning around, he aimed the gun behind him, waited a few seconds, then fired. A yelp was heard, as Dante turned around, smiling when he saw Jester lying on the ground.

"What the hell?" Jester cried, "Do you always shoot birthday guests?"

"Only the ones who aren't invited," Vergil said from behind the clown.

"Wait, you knew I was going to appear right there. How'd you know?"

"That's me to know and you to…never find out."

"This is going to get a little violent," Nero said.

Jester got to his feet, before putting up walls of energy that knocked both Vergil and Dante back, however, Nero's Diablo Bringer broke through the walls and struck Jester, slamming him against the wall. At that moment, Celeste entered the office and drew her Dragon Blades, crossing them over and blasting ice shards all over Jester, freezing him to the wall, as Dante and Vergil both got up.

"So, how shall we finish this clown off?" Vergil asked.

"Like this," Dante replied with a smirk.

He raised Ivory, as the handgun began glowing with his energy. Jester started freaking when he realised that he couldn't escape, as Ivory was levelled at his forehead.

"Oh come on, guys, this isn't fair!" Jester cried.

"Really don't care," Dante replied.

He pulled the trigger, as Jester froze, before hanging limp, his body then fading away. Dante smiled, glad that he was able to save his son from a terrible future and holstered his handgun, before turning to the rest of the guests.

"So…cake anyone?"

†††††††††††


	22. Fall of Asmodeus

**Thought I'd finish this up with with this epilogue, skipping over the two chapters in between, because they are kinda pointless really. Just know that previous battles have been somewhat prevented (such as Lucia being alive again, but not as a Goddess of Death) and I hope you enjoy this final chapter, which finishes this series off. And I hope it's good enough as well. Thanks to all who followed, reviewed and favourited over the years. I'm glad that this series has been successful. Thanks again**

**_†††††††††††_**

_Thirty years later…_

It was time…

After being in hiding for over two thousands year to rebuild his strength and gain further power through a variety of spells that took centuries, now was the time for him to rise up and enslave the human world, just like his master had wanted to do, before being betrayed by his right-hand man, Sparda.

He knew that Sparda was dead, but he also knew that Sparda fathered a few children before passing away and he figured that Sparda's children would try and stop him from achieving his goal. However, he knew otherwise. He had enough power flowing through his veins now that he would be able to stand up to Sparda's children and possibly even be victorious. And if that wasn't enough, he knew of the demon of destruction named Abbadon, who would easily prove to be more than a match. The demon was reported to unstoppable and nigh-indestructible. Nobody could stand up to the demon and hope to survive. At the very least, Abbadon would be able to distract Sparda's children, allowing him to achieve his true dream: taking over Mundus' empty throne and with the right ritual, absorb all the power that came with Mundus' title of Demon King of the Underworld.

Approaching the cavern, Asmodeus placed a foot upon the rung of the ladder and began climbing his way out of the hole. Beneath him was the cave that ran beneath Dumary Island and led to the hell dimension where Asmodeus had currently been hiding in for the past two thousand years, grateful that he had never been discovered during that time. As he ascended the ladder, he smiled to himself, almost tasting the power awaiting for him at Mallet Island. He could almost taste the success and couldn't wait to leave this island and head to Mallet Island. He was so cl-.

"Hi there."

Asmodeus froze, looking up at the smiling face of Dante, while Vergil was standing beside him, arms crossed over his chest and a glare on his face. Asmodeus slowly climbed the rest of the stairs, seeing Nero standing behind the elder twins, then looked over his shoulder at Celeste, who was leaning against a rock pillar. Trish was nearby, one hand on her hip and the other clutching Ombre, while Lucia hung at the back, her trademark cutlaseers in her hands. However, that wasn't all that Asmodeus saw. A giant ring of steel and energy had been placed over the hole that he had just crawled out of. He recognised the scrawling demonic language written on the steel and his pale face lost any trace of colour that it had, as Dante straightened with a wide grin.

"Hello again, Asmodeus. It's been a long time since we last saw each other."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Asmodeus spat, "What's going on here? You shouldn't be here at all. You don't even know I exist."

"I'm just going to start off by saying that your plan is useless," Vergil said, "For starters, the portal to Mundus' throne is permanently sealed off. Secondly, Abbadon no longer exists."

"What? But how? He is indestructible."

"Well, no, that's not quite true," Nero said, "Let's tell you a little story, Asmodeus."

"Yeah, you're gonna love this, cause it's quite funny," Dante said, "See, the future you, well, you of this time right now, made a little trip into the past to achieve your dream. Except we defeated him, which alerted us about the you of our time. So believe us when we say we've been waiting and preparing for this day."

"For nearly thirty years too, might I add," Vergil said, "I take it by the look on your face, you recognise the contraption you're in."

"A demonic seal," Asmodeus snarled, "Used to hold a demon prisoner and render him weak and powerless. But I am Asmodeus! It won't hold me for long."

He raised his hand, summoning his zweihander, before slicing at the seal. Trish shot her hand out, firing off a bolt of lightning that struck the steel, conducting into the massive sword and then into Asmodeus. He growled, swinging again and smashing the steel apart, before hurling a ball of energy at Trish. It slammed her against the wall, as Dante reached for his handguns, but Asmodeus fired an energy blast at him, before slashing at Vergil. He dived out of the way in the nick of time, as Nero ran in, swinging the Red Queen. Asmodeus blocked and dodged the Devil Bringer, before flinging Nero aside, throwing him into Celeste and taking them both down, as Lucia ran in, slashing with her blades, as Asmodeus dodged them, but scored a kick to the chest, as Lucia slashed at his face. Asmodeus blocked the blades and shoved Lucia back, before hurling her against the wall with an energy blast.

"Okay, play-time's over," Dante said, getting up, "Let's finish this now."

Vergil nodded and got to his feet, before standing beside his twin, as Asmodeus faced them, splitting the zweihander in half and creating two full, if smaller, swords. Dante grinned, then he moved forward at blinding speed, slashing with Sparda. Turning around, Dante performed the same move again, as Vergil charged at the same time and speed, slicing with Yamato. Whirling around, Vergil stabbed Asmodeus in the back, as Dante stabbed him through the stomach. Asmodeus cried out, as the twins struck their weapons with the fists, shooting them through Asmodeus. Dante caught hold of Yamato and spun around, slashing wide, as Vergil snatched Sparda out of the wide and swung the blade across Asmodeus' back. He fell to his knees, blood running down his body, as Vergil and Dante raised their swords, but Asmodeus fired an energy blast that sent the twins flying.

"I am Asmodeus! I will not be defeated, not by Sparda's blasted offspring!"

"Well, guess what," Vergil said, "It happened in the past and it'll happen again."

He leapt over Asmodeus, slashing him across the chest, then kicking him back against the seal, before handing Sparda back to Dante and receiving Yamato in response. He sheathed his trademark weapon, as Dante drew Ebony and Ivory, as Asmodeus fired an energy blast, but it was a weak one and it struck Dante's left arm, knocking Ebony from his hand, but Vergil calmly snatched it out of the air.

"Say goodnight, Asmodeus," Dante grinned.

Vergil smirked, the familiar memory flashing through his mind, as he slid back-to-back with Dante, Ebony and Ivory resting on top of each other, barrel-to-barrel. "Jackpot," Dante and Vergil said at the same time, before pulling the triggers.

Two bullets, one blue, the other red, flew from the handguns, slamming into Asmodeus. He roared as his body was torn apart by the force of the bullets and his power was released, setting off a massive explosion that tore through half of Dumary Island, creating an earthquake that shook the foundations, as the ocean slapped against the shoreline, threatening to spill over and consume the streets. Smoke rose high into the twilight sky, as sirens blared throughout the city.

"Ah, well, that was fun," Dante said from the sidewalk.

Once Asmodeus had been shot, they had all quickly evacuated the cavern, reaching the surface before the explosion and doing their best to protect the civilians until the shockwaves had subsided. Now, they were watching as police, fire-fighters and the ambulance checked over the civilians for injuries and doing crowd control.

"So, we get to live now?" Nero said, "This is where our lives ended, but now, they get to continue and even you don't know what's going to happen, Dante."

"Nope, I don't, but I don't care," Dante grinned, "When's the next mission?"

"You're just looking for the next apocalypse because we haven't had a decent once," Vergil said, "After all, you were the one who prevented them from even happening."

"Yeah, but there were some fun involved. You know what? I don't care. I just want some pizza and a strawberry sundae. I deserve it."

Trish rolled her eyes at her husband. He noticed this and grinned, before leaning close.

"Of course, babe, we could always head home and celebrate."

"I'm up for pizza," Trish said, "And strawberry sundaes. My shout."

"Aww, babe," Dante whined, his face falling at being rejected.

"Looks like not everything turns out the way you want them," Nero grinned.

Dante reached out and punched his brother on the arm, before walking away with his arm around Trish's waist, as she slung an arm across his shoulders.

"Call the twins and tell them to get out here. I'm sure they will like that."

"Why don't we just have a party?" Vergil suggested, "There can be booze."

"Ooh, let's go with that. We've got enough at home," Dante said.

"Some things will never change," Lucia murmured.

Smiling and shaking her head, still glad to be amongst her friends once again, Lucia followed after them as they made their way down to the docks where Dante's boat was waiting. From there, they headed back to Fortuna Island and entered Devil May Cry, where Tristan was sitting at the desk with his feet up, hands behind his head and his eyes close. Dante simply walked up to his son and lifted his feet up until Tristan fell out of the chair with a mighty crash, instantly waking the young hybrid up.

"Dad! Geez, don't do that!"

"Don't sleep in my chair with your feet on the desk. This is what, the fourth time?"

"See, Tristan, I told you not to sleep in Dad's chair," Jenny said from the living room, "But did you listen to me? Nooo."

"Settle, children," Trish said, "Tristan, get the alcohol. Jen, make a pizza call."

"What's the occasion?" Tristan asked.

"To a bigger, better and brighter future," Dante replied with a smile.

Just then, the phone rang and Jenny answered it, before looking up at her father.

"Someone with a password. And they're nearby, Dad. Sounds kinda big."

Dante looked over at his wife, before sharing a smile with her.

"Kids, grab your weapons and babe, hold the party for two hours?"

"I'll hold it for one," Trish replied.

Dante grinned, "More than enough."

Tristan and Jenny joined him by the front door, as he kicked it wide open.

"Let's rock."

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End file.
